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Argueta-Lozano AK, Castañeda-Martinez L, Bass V, Mateos MJ, Castillo-López JP, Perez-Badillo MP, Aguilar-Cortazar LO, Porras-Reyes F, Sollozo-Dupont MI, Torres-Robles F, Márquez-Flores J, Villaseñor-Navarro Y, Esquivel-Sirvent R, Rosado-Mendez IM. Inter- and Intra-Operator Variability of Regularized Backscatter Quantitative Ultrasound for the Characterization of Breast Masses. J Ultrasound Med 2023; 42:2567-2582. [PMID: 37490582 DOI: 10.1002/jum.16292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/27/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Here we report on the intra- and inter-operator variability of the backscatter coefficient (BSC) estimated with a new low-variance quantitative ultrasound (QUS) approach applied to breast lesions in vivo. METHODS Radiofrequency (RF) echo signals were acquired from 29 BIRADS 4 and 5 breast lesions in 2 sequential cohorts following 2 imaging protocols: cohort 1) radial and antiradial views, and cohort 2) short- and long-axis views. Protocol 2 was implemented after retraining and discussion on how to improve reproducibility. Each patient was scanned by at least 2 of 3 radiologists; each performed 3 acquisitions with transducer and patient repositioning in between acquisitions. BSC was estimated using a low-variance QUS approach based on regularization. Intra- and inter-operator variability of the intra-lesion median BSC was evaluated with a multifactorial ANOVA test (P-values) and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). RESULTS Inter-operator variability was only significant in the first protocol (P < .007); ICCinter = .77 (95% CI .71-.82), indicating good inter-operator agreement. In the second protocol, the inter-operator variability was not significant (P > .05) and agreement was excellent (ICCinter = .92 [.89-.94]). In both protocols, the intra-operator variability was not significant. CONCLUSIONS Our findings demonstrate the need for standardizing image acquisition protocols for backscatter-based QUS to reduce inter-operator variability and ensure its successful translation to the characterization of suspicious breast masses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana K Argueta-Lozano
- Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Mexico
| | | | - Vivian Bass
- Instituto de Ciencias Aplicadas y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Maria-Julieta Mateos
- Graduate Program in Computer Science and Engineering, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Mexico
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Fabian Torres-Robles
- Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Jorge Márquez-Flores
- Instituto de Ciencias Aplicadas y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Mexico
| | | | - Raul Esquivel-Sirvent
- Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Ivan M Rosado-Mendez
- Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
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