Andlastosonography instead of needle aspiration: it is the approach to the diagnosis of breast cancer that allows to minimize the risks of the second procedure, more invasive, but also more rapid and widespread. To explain the advantages of the diagnostic procedure that uses acoustic waves is Luca Rotunno in charge of Cancer first aid and the Association’s personalized breast center Lymph against cancer of Vicenza. The technique of breast cancer diagnosis is now used both in its center and in theEuropean Institute of Oncology in Milan.
Doppler ultrasound and blood circulation
“Doppler ultrasound with breast elastosonography is based on a double assumption: according to the theory of angiogenesis, when there is a tumor, an increase in vascularity because cancer cells need more nutrition than normal cells. through the tool ofDoppler ultrasound therefore keeps the circulatory situation under control of fabrics. An alarm bell rings when the i is encounteredpervascularization of a particular district.
Elastic fabrics or not
«Elastosonography, an alternative to needle aspiration, provides information on the elasticity of tissues. It is based on the assumption that cancer is a pathology that changes the characteristics of the tissues and their elasticity. Ultrasound waves are used to evaluate, in a completely non-invasive way, the degree of elasticity of the tissues »continues Rotunno.
Color diagnosis
“There diagnosis with elastosonography associates a certain degree of elasticity of fabrics with a color. The lighter colors indicate softer fabrics and therefore benign situations, the darkest ones sloping down towards the black more pathological situations. Black stands out in fact when a hard compact mass reflects and does not let the light pass »continues the oncologist.
Elastosonography associated with Doppler ultrasound in 90 percent of cases it avoids the use of needle aspiration diagnosis, the examination for which yes takes a very small part of the tissue from the lump by means of a needle guided by an ultrasound probe and then analyze the sample under a microscope and check if the lump is benign or if it is a tumor.
The risks of the invasive approach
Which the risk inherent in using the aspirated needle, by far the most widespread technique and which allows you to perform a very high number of exams in a day? “If the lump turns out to be malignant, the removal of tissue can always hide a risk albeit minimal dispersion of tumor cells in the body »replies Luca Rotunno. “When the lump is benignalso, intervening with a needle risks developing an inflammatory event which in the long run could be a harbinger of neoplastic events ».
Train operators
The Linfa association performs about 4 thousand diagnoses with Doppler ultrasound and elastosonography per year. But the problem of the diffusion of the technique, already present all over the world from the United States to Japan, is in the manual skills and in the diagnostic competence of the operatorsthat only by carrying out an adequate number of breast exams per year can they maintain high standards of interpretation.
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For this reason, Linfa opens every semester to two or three specialized doctors or specialists in surgery and radiology to learn the method
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