Affiliations: [a] Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyoto, Japan
| [b] Department of Biostatistics, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyoto, Japan
| [c] Department of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyoto, Japan
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Yoshihiro Sowa, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kawaramachi-Hirokoji Kajii-cho 465, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-8566, Japan. Tel.: +81 75 251 5730; Fax: +81 75 251 5732; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Capsular contracture around implants is a common complication after breast reconstruction. Strain elastography (STE) and shear-wave elastography (SWE) are noninvasive imaging techniques that can measure tissue stiffness and thickness of the capsule. OBJECTIVE: The purposes of the study were to compare STE and SWE for measurement of capsular contracture after breast implant reconstruction using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) and to investigate the correlation of these data with the Baker score, which is the most frequently used clinical staging scale for capsule contracture. METHODS: The subjects were 20 patients (27 implants) who underwent breast reconstruction. RESULTS: The reproducibility of SWE (ICC: 0.878) was higher than that of STE (ICC: 0.724) for measurement of capsular contracture. The correlation coefficient between measurements with the two methods was low (r = 0.6788). The Baker score had a higher correlation with measurements with SWE (r = 0.8124) compared to those with STE (r = 0.6983). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that SWE is a better tool for assessment of the degree of capsule contracture surrounding implants after breast reconstruction.
Keywords: Ultrasound, shear wave elastography, strain elastography, capsular contracture, breast implant, breast reconstruction
