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Tracking the Mammary Architectural Features and Detecting Breast Cancer with Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Published on: December 15, 2014
Can Diffusion-Weighted Imaging and Related Apparent Diffusion Coefficient be a Prognostic Value in Women With Breast
Paola Rabasco1, Rocchina Caivano2, Vittorio Simeon3
1a Department of Radiology , IRCCS - Referral Cancer Center of Basilicata , Rionero in Vulture, Italy.
Purpose:
To analyze diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and the related apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in women with breast cancer, correlating these values with the presence at 3 years of distant metastases, and to demonstrate that DWI-Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and related ADC values may represent a prognostic value in the study of women with breast cancer.
Materials And Methods:
Sixty women (aged 45-73 years) affected with breast cancer with a follow-up in 3 years were enrolled. On DWI, we obtained the ADC values, and these were correlated with the clinical condition of patients at 3 years. Moreover, tumour size, lymph node status, and molecular markers, including estrogens receptor, progesterone receptor, Ki-67 index, and human growth factor receptor 2 protein, were correlated with ADC values. This study was approved by the Scientific Committee of our institution.
Results:
We considered patients with metastasis at 3 years (12 patients - 20%) and without metastasis (48 patients - 80%). The mean ADC value in patients with no metastases at 3 years was 1.06 ± 0.38, while for patients with metastases it was 0.74 ± 0.34 (p = .011). The receiver-operator curve analysis identified a value of 0.75 (<0.75 with risk to develop metastasis) as the best predictive cutoff for ADC values, with the highest sensitivity (81.25%) and higher specificity (66.67%). After regression analysis, ADC value, positivity to estrogen-progestin receptors, and presence of lymph nodes were the only prognostic factors found to be statistically significant.
Conclusions:
DWI-MRI and related ADC values may represent a prognostic value in women with breast cancer.
