Effectiveness of quadrant assessment and strain elastography in granulomatous mastitis

BACKGROUND: Granulomatous mastitis (GM) is a long-term benign disease of unknown cause and difficulties are encountered in its diagnosis. Ultrasound elastography (USE) is a new technique for the diagnosis of GM, and there are still few studies about it. In this study, quadrant measurements were made with strain elastography (SE) in cases diagnosed with GM and the differences between them were evaluated.METHODS: Biopsy-proven GM cases that underwent SE between February 2019 and 2023 were evaluated retrospectively. A total of 90 patients were identified, all of whom were in the premenopausal age (28-43 years). Strain ratio (SR) values for quadrants in the breast were calculated for each case.RESULTS: The right breast was affected in 42 cases (46.6%) and the left breast in 48 (53.4%), and there was no statistical difference (P>0.05). The median SR value was highest at 0.67 in the right lower outer quadrant (RLOQ) and lowest at 0.23 in the left upper inner quadrant (LUIQ). Other high median SR values measured in breast quadrants were left lower inner quadrant (LLIQ) with 0.54 and right upper inner quadrant (RUIQ) with 0.44. A significant significance was detected between these three high median SR values and the other quadrants values (P<0.001).CONCLUSIONS: There are no USE studies in the literature evaluating breast quadrants in GM cases. In this study, the fact that measurements were made for breast quadrants with the SE stands out as an innovation.