Complete Breast MRI Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Prediction of Pathologic Complete Response

To assess the negative predictive value (NPV) of breast MRI in detecting residual disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in women with invasive breast cancer, overall and by tumor subtype.

An institutional review board approved retrospective study from January 2010 through December 2016 identified patients with invasive breast cancer who achieved complete MRI response to NAC, defined as the absence of residual enhancement in the tumor bed above background parenchymal enhancement. During the study period, it was our routine practice to assign a BI-RADS 1 or 2 assessment to these cases. The NPV was defined as the ability of a complete MRI response to predict pathologic complete response (pCR) at final surgical pathology. Statistical analyses were performed using a Fisher exact test.

Among 244 patients who underwent MRI to assess NAC response, 38 (16%) were determined to have complete MRI response by the interpreting radiologist. Of these, 20/38 (53%) had pCR. Complete MRI response did not significantly predict pCR for the total group (P < 0.9). However, NPVs significantly varied by molecular subtype (P < 0.004). True negative MRIs by tumor subtype were 2/10 (20%) for hormone receptor (HR)+/HER2-, 3/10 (30%) for HR+/HER2+, 6/8 (75%) for HR-/HER+, and 9/10 (90%) for triple negative (TN) subtypes. Complete MRI response significantly predicted pCR for only the TN subtype (NPV 90%; P < 0.02).

In patients with complete MRI response, 53% had pCR. While MRI lacks sufficient NPV to obviate the need for surgical excision, it may add prognostic value for certain molecular subtypes. The TN subtype demonstrated the highest NPV.