13 Sep Breast Cancer: Survival Outcomes Predicted by Chemotherapy Response on MRI

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Nariya Cho, MD
Departments of Radiology
Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?

Dr. Cho: Smaller reduction in tumor volume and a smaller reduction in washout component on dynamic contrast agent–enhanced MR imaging assessed by computer-aided evaluation after neoadjuvant chemotherapy were independent parameters of worse recurrence-free survival and overall survival in breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?

Dr. Cho: Another interesting result of our study was that achievement of pathologic complete response (pCR) was associated with favorable recurrence-free survival in a univariate analysis but did not remain a significant variable associated with recurrence-free survival in a multivariate analysis. This result might be caused by the paradoxical feature of the triple-negative breast cancer, which means that patients with the triple-negative phenotype showed higher rates of pCR. It has also been suggested that molecular subtype should be considered for MR imaging monitoring of the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Cho: Actually, there are multiple MR imaging protocols, coil equipment, and computer-aided evaluation programs in clinical use. Variability of kinetic parameters or different threshold values that depended on MR systems could have led to different results. In addition, the variability in cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the status of adjuvant treatment could have affected the survival outcomes.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Cho: This study was retrospective with a relatively short-term follow-up period. A larger study with an external validation cohort may be necessary in the future.

Citation:

Survival Outcomes of Breast Cancer Patients Who Receive Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: Association with Dynamic Contrast-enhanced MR Imaging with Computer-aided Evaluation
Ann Yi, Nariya Cho, Seock-Ah Im, Jung Min Chang, Seung Ja Kim, Hyeung-Gon Moon, Wonshik Han, In-Ae Park, Dong-Young Noh, and Woo Kyung Moon

 Radiology September 2013 268:3 662

Last Updated on December 21, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD