The value of ultra-high frequency ultrasound for the differentiation between superficial basal cell carcinoma and Bowen's disease.

BACKGROUND: The similar visual appearance of superficial basal cell carcinoma (sBCC) and Bowen's disease (BD) may cause confusion for diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the value of ultra-high frequency ultrasound (uHFUS) in differentiating sBCC from BD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study included a pilot cohort of 110 patients (73 BDs and 37 sBCCs) from November 2016 to October 2020 and a validation cohort of 42 patients (30 BDs and 12 sBCCs) from July 2021 to December 2021. Clinical and uHFUS features of pathologically confirmed sBCC and BD were assessed. A predictive model was developed based on the HFUS features of the pilot cohort. Subsequently, the model was validated and compared with clinical diagnosis in the validation cohort.

RESULTS: uHFUS features with significant differences between sBCC and BD included lesion surface, skin layer involvement, hyperkeratosis, and hyperechoic spots (all p < 0.05). A prediction model based on the above features was established to identify sBCC and BD in the pilot and validation cohorts with the areas under the curve (AUC) of 0.908 and 0.923, sensitivity of 82.3% and 83.3%, specificity of 91.9% and 91.7%, accuracy of 85.5% and 85.7%, respectively, which was significantly higher than those obtained by clinical diagnosis based on photographic pictures of lesions, with the AUC of 0.692, sensitivity of 63.3%, specificity of 75.3%, and accuracy of 66.7% (all p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: uHFUS provides detailed internal features of sBCC and BD, which facilitates the differentiation between sBCC and BD and its diagnostic performance is superior to clinical diagnosis.