Shear wave elastography (SWE) was performed independently by two radiologists in 264 solid breast masses. The images were reviewed for color overlay pattern (COP) classification by the two radiologists, double blinded to any information. The interobserver agreement of the COP was almost perfect (κ=0.908) and high in Emax (ICC=0.89). The AUC value of the COP (0.954) was significantly higher than that of Emax (0.915) (p=0.002) but not significantly different from that of Emax combined with COP (0.957) (p=0.098). The SWE color overlay pattern and Emax of breast masses were highly reproducible. The COP had better diagnostic ability than Emax, suggesting that COP may be a more reliable parameter for solid breast mass evaluation.
Keywords: Breast ultrasound; Diagnostic performance; Reproducibility; Shear wave elastography; Solid breast masses.
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