Abstract: Objective To analyze the ultrasonic imaging features of different molecular subtypes of breast cancer in the elderly. Methods The clincal data of 117 elderly patients with breast cancer confirmed by pathology who underwent breast ultrasonic examination were retrospectively analyzed. The molecular typing of the patients were determined by the result of immunocytochemistry. The pathological characteristics, histological grading and ultrasonic imaging features of elderly breast cancer with different molecular subtypes were observed and compared. Results Among 117 patients, 70 cases presented with Luminal A type, 14 cases presenting with Luminal B type, 12 cases presenting with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER-2) positive type and 21 cases presenting with triple-negative type. Invasive ductal carcinoma was the main pathological type among the patients with different molecular subtypes. The difference of histological grading among invasive ductal carcinoma patients with different molecular subtypes was statistically significant(χ²=19.700, P<0.001). According to the result of ultrasonic examination in the elderly patients with breast cancer, there were significant differences in the tumor morphology, tumor margin, internal calcification, posterior echo and axillary lymph node among the patients with different molecular subtypes(P<0.05); While there were no significant differences in tumor size, aspect ratio, internal echo and blood flow(P>0.05). Conclusions There is a certain correlation between the ultrasonic imaging features and molecular subtypes in the elderly patients with breast cancer. The ultrasonic imaging can be helpful to determine the molecular typing of elderly breast cancer.

Key words: elderly breast cancer, pathological feature, molecular typing, ultrasonic imaging feature