TY - JOUR
T1 - Computed tomography Hounsfield units can predict breast cancer metastasis to axillary lymph nodes
AU - Urata, Masakazu
AU - Kijima, Yuko
AU - Hirata, Munetsugu
AU - Shinden, Yoshiaki
AU - Arima, Hideo
AU - Nakajo, Akihiro
AU - Koriyama, Chihaya
AU - Arigami, Takaaki
AU - Uenosono, Yoshikazu
AU - Okumura, Hiroshi
AU - Maemura, Kosei
AU - Ishigami, Sumiya
AU - Yoshinaka, Heiji
AU - Natsugoe, Shoji
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Urata et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
PY - 2014/9/30
Y1 - 2014/9/30
N2 - Background: Axillary lymph node (ALN) status is an important prognostic factor for breast cancer. We retrospectively used contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT) to evaluate the presence of ALN, metastasis based on size, shape, and contrasting effects.Methods: Of 131 consecutive patients who underwent CE-CT followed by surgery for breast cancer between 2005 and 2012 in our institution, 49 were histologically diagnosed with lymph node metastasis. Maximum Hounsfield units (HU) and mean HU were measured in non-contrasting CT (NC-CT) and CE-CT of ALNs.Results: Of 12 examined measurements, we found significant differences between negative and metastatic ALNs in mean and maximum NC-CT HU, and mean and maximum CE-CT HU (P < 0.05). We used a receiver operating curve, to determine cut-off values of four items in which significant differences were observed. The highest accuracy rate was noted for the cut-off value of 54 as maximum NC-CT HU for which sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy rate were 79.6%, 80.5% and 80.2%, respectively.Conclusions: CT HU of a patient with breast cancer are absolute values that offer objective disease management data that are not influenced by the screener's ability.
AB - Background: Axillary lymph node (ALN) status is an important prognostic factor for breast cancer. We retrospectively used contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT) to evaluate the presence of ALN, metastasis based on size, shape, and contrasting effects.Methods: Of 131 consecutive patients who underwent CE-CT followed by surgery for breast cancer between 2005 and 2012 in our institution, 49 were histologically diagnosed with lymph node metastasis. Maximum Hounsfield units (HU) and mean HU were measured in non-contrasting CT (NC-CT) and CE-CT of ALNs.Results: Of 12 examined measurements, we found significant differences between negative and metastatic ALNs in mean and maximum NC-CT HU, and mean and maximum CE-CT HU (P < 0.05). We used a receiver operating curve, to determine cut-off values of four items in which significant differences were observed. The highest accuracy rate was noted for the cut-off value of 54 as maximum NC-CT HU for which sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy rate were 79.6%, 80.5% and 80.2%, respectively.Conclusions: CT HU of a patient with breast cancer are absolute values that offer objective disease management data that are not influenced by the screener's ability.
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U2 - 10.1186/1471-2407-14-730
DO - 10.1186/1471-2407-14-730
M3 - Article
C2 - 25266250
AN - SCOPUS:84908014953
SN - 1471-2407
VL - 14
SP - 1
EP - 8
JO - BMC Cancer
JF - BMC Cancer
IS - 1
M1 - 730
ER -