Application of Shear Wave Elastography in the Diagnosis and Evaluation of Cervical Cancer

Abstract

Background: Our goal was to add an auxiliary examination method for the detection of cervical cancer, and to further explore its application value in clinical staging and treatment. Methods: Shear wave elastography (SWE) technique was used to examine the cervical hardness of patients, and the maximum, mean and minimum values of elastic modulus were recorded, with differences being compared. The area under the receiver operating characreristic (ROC) curve and diagnostic efficacy of elastic modulus were compared with Medcalc software. The differences of elastic modulus values under different parameters were compared in the cervical cancer group. Results: The mean, maximum and minimum values of the cervical cancer group were all the highest, and the differences were statistically significant. The area under the ROC curves were 0.925, 0.909 and 0.873, respectively. For the mean and maximum values, the Youden indexes were 0.79 and 0.72, the positive likelihood ratios were 21.74 and 19.97, and the negative likelihood ratios were 0.18 and 0.25. The optimal cut-off point was 82.2 kilpoascal (kPa) for maximum value and was 66.5 kPa for mean value. Elastic modulus were all significantly different according to International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages and tumor lesion size. Also, elastic modulus of cervical cancer patients before and after radiotherapy were statistically significant. Conclusions: SWE technology has an application value in the detection of cervical cancer. The mean and maximum values have higher diagnostic accuracy. SWE technology also has potential clinical application value in the clinical staging and treatment of cervical cancer, but further studies with larger sample sizes are needed.