Functional Tumor Volume by Fast Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI for Predicting Neoadjuvant Systemic Therapy Response in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Background: Dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI is useful for diagnosis and assessment of treatment response in breast cancer. Fast DCE MRI offers a higher sampling rate of contrast enhancement curves in comparison to conventional DCE MRI, potentially characterizing tumor perfusion kinetics more accurately for measurement of functional tumor volume (FTV) as a predictor of treatment response.

Purpose: To investigate FTV by fast DCE MRI as a predictor of neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAST) response in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Study type: Prospective.

Population/subjects: Sixty patients with biopsy-confirmed TNBC between December 2016 and September 2020.

Field strength/sequence: A 3.0 T/3D fast spoiled gradient echo-based DCE MRI ASSESSMENT: Patients underwent MRI at baseline and after four cycles (C4) of NAST, followed by definitive surgery. DCE subtraction images were analyzed in consensus by two breast radiologists with 5 (A.H.A.) and 2 (H.S.M.) years of experience. Tumor volumes (TV) were measured on early and late subtractions. Tumors were segmented on 1 and 2.5-minute early phases subtractions and FTV was determined using optimized signal enhancement thresholds. Interpolated enhancement curves from segmented voxels were used to determine optimal early phase timing.

Statistical tests: Tumor volumes were compared between patients who had a pathologic complete response (pCR) and those who did not using the area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) and Mann-Whitney U test.

Results: About 26 of 60 patients (43%) had pCR. FTV at 1 minute after injection at C4 provided the best discrimination between pCR and non-pCR, with AUC (95% confidence interval [CI]) = 0.85 (0.74,0.95) (P < 0.05). The 1-minute timing was optimal for FTV measurements at C4 and for the change between C4 and baseline. TV from the early phase at C4 also yielded a good AUC (95%CI) of 0.82 (0.71,0.93) (P < 0.05).

Data conclusion: FTV and TV measured at 1 minute after injection can predict response to NAST in TNBC.

Level of evidence: 1 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: 4.