A ultrasonic nomogram of quantitative parameters for diagnosing breast cancer

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a nomogram through the collection of quantitative ultrasound parameters to predict breast cancer. From March 2021 to September 2022, a total of 313 breast tumors were included with pathological results. Through collecting quantitative ultrasound parameters of breast tumors and multivariate regression analysis, a nomogram was developed. The diagnostic performances, calibration and clinical usefulness of the nomogram for predicting breast cancer were assessed. A total of 182 benign and 131 malignant breast tumors were included in this study. The nomogram indicated excellent predictive properties with an AUC of 0.934, sensitivity of 0.881, specificity of 0.848, PPV of 0.795 and NPV of 0.841. The calibration curve showed the predicted values are basically consistent with the actual observed values. The optimum cut-off for the nomogram was 0.310 for predicting cancer. The decision curve analysis results corroborated good clinical usefulness. The model including BI-RADS score, SWE and VI is potentially useful for predicting breast cancer.