Correlation between contrast-enhanced ultrasound findings and pathological prognostic factors in breast cancer: A systematic review

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women and diagnostic imaging aims to reliably define the prognosis for each patient, in order to determinate the best therapeutic protocol, specified to the tumor characteristics, maximizing its effectiveness and minimizing its side effects.

Aim: To investigate the correlation between contrast-enhanced ultrasound findings and pathological prognostic factors in breast cancer.

Material and method: A systematic literature review was conducted on PubMed and Scopus from the onset of databases due to 15 December 2019 using the following key-words: contrast-enhanced ultrasound, breast cancer, prognostic factors.

Results: We found 13 studies that support the relationship between contrast-enhanced ultrasound findings (e.g. lesion's enhancement degree, blurring lesion margins, internal lesion homogeneity or heterogeneity, sentinel lymph node enhancement etc.) and pathological prognostic factors in breast cancer, such as tumor size, grade of cancer, crude necrosis, progesterone and estrogen receptors, HER2 receptor, and Ki-67 and p53 proteins expression. 

Keywords: contrast-enhanced ultrasound, Breast cancer, prognostic factors