Abstract:
INTRODUCTION : Despite the incidence and recurrence rates of breast cancer,
there are currently no biomarkers to predict which cases will develop into
lobular carcinoma (LC). The purpose of this study was to determine the
association between ultrasound morphologic characteristics of LC and
histopathological classifications. METHODS : A retrospective, cross-sectional study
was conducted on the ultrasound images and histopathological reports of 100
patients with a confirmed LC diagnosis between January 2013 and December
2016. RESULTS : Morphologic ultrasound characteristics most frequently reported
in the dataset of positively diagnosed LC patients were; irregular ultrasound
shape (86%), hypoechoic echogenicity (88%), poorly circumscribed margin
(95%), posterior acoustic enhancement (93%) and absent calcifications (81%).
Using Fisher’s extract test, it was found that stromal fibrosis, single file type
pattern, atypical lobular hyperplasia and LC Grade II were significantly
correlated with irregular shape and hypoechoic echogenicity. CONCLUSION : A
prognostic predictor tool can be designed from this study’s findings which can
then be used in practice to raise awareness of the unique morphometric
markers related to LC of the breast.
