DCE-MRI determines women at high recurrence risk of breast cancer

Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) can help distinguish women with high recurrence risk of breast cancer from those with low recurrence risk, a study published January 23 in Radiology found. Researchers led by Dooman Arefan, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh found that quantitative background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) found on DCE-MRI combined with tumor radiomics could be an alternative to the Oncotype DX recurrence score in assessing breast cancer recurrence risk. “This finding has particular clinical value considering that the Oncotype DX recurrence score is expensive and unavailable in many low-resource health care settings,” Arefan and colleagues wrote. BPE refers to the contrast enhancement of normal breast tissue on DCE-MRI and is known as a risk factor for breast cancer development. However, the researchers noted that it remains unexplored how quantitative BPE measures are tied to outcomes for women receiving breast cancer treatment. In women with early-stage, estrogen receptor-positive, node-negative invasive breast cancer, oncologists use the Oncotype DX recurrence score (Genomic Health) to analyze the expression of 21 genes to predict the risk of distant recurrence. The resulting recurrence score helps oncologists decide on appropriate treatment plans. Arefan and co-authors investigated whether quantitative BPE measurements in one or both breasts could be used to predict recurrence risk in breast cancer patients. They used the Oncotype DX rec...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: MRI Womens Imaging Source Type: news