Quantitative Analysis of Enlarged Cervical Lymph Nodes with Ultrasound Elastography

Purpsoe: To investigate the diagnostic value of quantitative analysis of a tissue diffusion and virtual touchtissue imaging quantification (VTIQ) technique with acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastographyfor assessing enlarged cervical lymph nodes. Materials and
Methods: Fifty-six enlarged cervical lymph nodesconfirmed by pathologic diagnoses were covered in the study. According to the results of pathologic diagnosis,patients were classified into benign and malignant groups. All the patients were examined by both conventionalultrasonography and elastography. AREA% and shear wave velocity (SWV) in ROI of different groups werecalculated and compared using ROC curves. Cut-off points of AREA% and SWV were determined withreceiver operating characteristic curves.
Results: Final histopathological results revealed 21 cases of benign and35 cases of malignant lymph nodes. The mean values of AREA% and SWV in benign and malignant groupswere 45.0±17.9% and 2.32±0.57m/s, and 61.3±21.29% and 4.36±1.25)m/s, respectively. For the parameters ofelastography, “AREA%”and SWV demonstrated significant differences between groups (p=0.002). AREA%was positively correlated with SWV with a correlation coefficient of 0.809 (P<0.001).
Conclusions: Stiffness ofdifferent lymph node diseases in patients may differ. Elastography can evaluate changes sensitively and providevaluable information to doctors. The study proved that the VTIQ elastography technique can play an importantrole in differential diagnosis of lymph nodes.