Initial experience of acoustic radiation force impulse ultrasound imaging of cervical lymph nodes

The aim of this study was to evaluate acoustic radiation force impulse imaging for cervical lymphadenopathy in routine clinical practice and to correlate the acoustic radiation force impulse values with the morphological signs and the pathological results, which were used as the reference standard. The virtual touch tissue quantification values were analyzed in 123 patients (mean age 40.8 years, range 1-81 years) with 181 cervical lymph nodes (87 benign, 94 malignant). The diagnostic performance of acoustic radiation force impulse values were evaluated with respect to sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve using a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The mean virtual touch tissue quantification values of the benign lesions (2.01 ± 0.95 m/s) differed from that of the malignant lesions (4.61 ± 2.56 m/s; P  < 0.001). The cutoff level for virtual touch tissue quantification value for malignancy was estimated to be 2.595 m/s. Using the receiver operating characteristic curve curves with the cutoff value, the virtual touch tissue quantification value predicted malignancy with a sensitivity of 82.9%, specificity of 93.1% and gave an areas under the curve of 0.906 (95% CI 0.857-0.954). Acoustic radiation force impulse is feasible for cervical lymph nodes and provides quantitative elasticity measurements, which may complement B-mode ultrasound and potentially improve the characterization of cervical lymph nodes.