Quantitative Analysis of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Imaging in Invasive Breast Cancer: A Novel Technique to Obtain Histopathologic Information of Microvessel Density

We examined whether enhancement area ratios obtained by the new bubble detection method correlate with histologic microvessel density in invasive breast cancer. Forty consecutive patients with invasive breast cancer lesions underwent contrast-enhanced ultrasound. The ratio of enhanced area to manually segmented tumor area (enhancement area ratio) was obtained with the new method at peak and delayed phases (50–54, 55–59, 60–64 and 65–69 s). We also analyzed time–intensity curves to obtain peak intensity and area under curve. Enhancement area ratios in both peak and delayed phases (50–54, 55–59, 60–64 and 65–69 s) were significantly correlated with microvessel density (r = 0.57, 0.62, 0.68, 0.61 and 0.58; p = 0.0001, <0.0001, <.0001, <.0001 and 0.0001, respectively). In time–intensity curve analysis, peak intensity was significantly correlated (r = 0.43, p = 0.0073), whereas area under the curve was not (r = 0.29, p = 0.0769). Enhancement area ratios obtained by the new method were correlated with microvessel density in invasive breast cancer.