Abstract: 【Abstract】 Objective To investigate the value of high-frequency ultrasound and shear wave elastography in preoperative evaluation of basal cell carcinoma （BCC）. Methods A total of 95 patients with histopathologically confirmed cutaneous BCC were enrolled from Department of Dermatology, Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Zhongshan from January 2017 to December 2020, all of whom had underwent preoperative conventional ultrasonography and shear wave elastography. Conventional ultrasonography parametres including the maximum diameter, maximum infiltration depth, maximum blood flow velocity and resistance index were recorded, so were shear wave elastography parametres including the average Young′s modulus （Eave）, Young′s modulus standard deviation （Esd） and average Young′s modulus ratio （Eratio）. All the patients were divided into high- and low-risk BCC groups according to pathologic subtypes. Paired t-test was used to compare conventional ultrasonography and shear wave elastography findings between the 2 groups. Results There were 15 cases in the high-risk BCC group and 80 cases in the low-risk BCC group. Compared with the low-risk BCC group, the high-risk BCC group showed significantly increased maximum depth of tumor infiltration （8.5 ± 4.6 mm vs. 4.5 ± 1.6 mm, t = 6.150, P < 0.001）, Eave （32.7 ± 11.2 kPa vs. 20.6 ± 5.1 kPa, t = 4.065, P = 0.001） and Esd （7.0 ± 4.1 kPa vs. 4.2 ± 2.1 kPa, t = 2.632, P = 0.018）, while there were no significant differences in the other measurement data between the two groups （all P > 0.05）. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of the maximum infiltration depth, Eave and Esd for the diagnosis of high-risk BCC were 0.775, 0.909 and 0.822 respectively, and Eave showed the best diagnostic performance. Using 25.7 kPa as the cut-off value, the sensitivity and specificity of Eave were 86.7% and 85.0% for the diagnosis of high-risk BCC, respectively. Conclusion High-frequency ultrasound and shear wave elastography can facilitate differential diagnosis between high- and low-risk BCC.

Key words: Neoplasms, basal cell, Ultrasonography, Elasticity imaging techniques, Risk evaluation, High-frequency ultrasound, Shear wave elastography