The predictive value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound combined with ultrasonic elastography in response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in different molecular types of breast cancer

Abstract Objective: To investigate the predictive efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and elastosonography (ELA) in adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with different molecular types of breast cancer. Methods: 74 patients with breast cancer from June 2021 to August 2023 were divided into Luminal A group, Luminal B group and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) group according to molecular typing. All patients underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment and were divided into a reactive group (n=61 cases) and a non reactive group (n=13 cases) based on the treatment effect. All patients underwent contrast-enhanced ultrasound and ultrasound elastography (using shear wave elastography (SWE) mode) examination, and ROC curves were plotted to analyze the combined predictive performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and ultrasound elastography. Result: There was no statistically significant difference in the parameters of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and ultrasound elastography between the Luminal A group, Luminal B group, and HER-2 group (P>0.05); The parameters of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and ultrasound elastography after chemotherapy in breast cancer with different molecular types were lower than those before chemotherapy (P<0.05); Among 74 patients with breast cancer, 13 (17.57%) were non responsive to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The PT, K1, and SR of the non reactive group were higher than those of the reactive group (P<0.05); The ROC curve results showed that the combined examination of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and ultrasonic elastography was more effective than the single examination in predicting the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with different molecular types of breast cancer (P<0.05). Conclusion: When breast cancer patients are treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy under different molecular classifications, the indexes of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and elastography have changed before and after chemotherapy, and the combination of the two has a high predictive value for different molecular classifications of breast cancer, which can obtain high sensitivity and specificity, and can provide a reliable basis for the formulation and adjustment of adjuvant therapy programs.