Clinical application of S-Detect to breast masses on ultrasonography: a study evaluating the diagnostic performance and agreement with a dedicated breast radiologist

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of S-Detect when applied to breast ultrasonography (US), and the agreement with an experienced radiologist specializing in breast imaging.

METHODS: From June to August 2015, 192 breast masses in 175 women were included. US features of the breast masses were retrospectively analyzed by a radiologist who specializes in breast imaging and S-Detect, according to the fourth edition of the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System lexicon and final assessment categories. Final assessments from S-Detect were in dichotomized form: possibly benign and possibly malignant. Kappa statistics were used to analyze the agreement between the radiologist and S-Detect. Diagnostic performance of the radiologist and S-Detect was calculated, including sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value, accuracy, and area under the receiving operator characteristics curve.

RESULTS: Of the 192 breast masses, 72 (37.5%) were malignant, and 120 (62.5%) were benign. Benign masses among category 4a had higher rates of possibly benign assessment on S-Detect for the radiologist, 63.5% to 36.5%, respectively (P=0.797). When the cutoff was set at category 4a, the specificity, PPV, and accuracy was significantly higher in S-Detect compared to the radiologist (all P<0.05), with a higher area under the receiver operator characteristics curve of 0.725 compared to 0.653 (P=0.038). Moderate agreement (k=0.58) was seen in the final assessment between the radiologist and S-Detect.

CONCLUSION: S-Detect may be used as an additional diagnostic tool to improve the specificity of breast US in clinical practice, and guide in decision making for breast masses detected on US.