Triple-negative breast cancer: are the imaging findings different between responders and nonresponders to neoadjuvant chemotherapy?

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the imaging findings of triple-negative breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and to investigate whether the findings are different between responders and nonresponders, enabling us to predict the final patient response.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The subjects included 22 women ages 35-73 years (mean, 50.4 years) with 23 triple-negative breast cancers who underwent NAC. In all cases, a mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed a total of three times: before NAC, after the first half of NAC, and after NAC. The mass shape, mass margin, presence of clear intratumoral necrosis, and presence of intratumoral calcification were analyzed. The presence of clear intratumoral necrosis was evaluated on the MRI. If there was a very high signal intensity (similar to that of water) in the tumor on the fat-suppressed T2-weighted MRI scans, we judged it to be clear intratumoral necrosis.

RESULTS

An irregularly shaped mass (P = .018) and the presence of clear intratumoral necrosis (P = .044) were significantly associated with NAC nonresponse in triple-negative breast cancer patients. The mass margin and the presence of intratumoral calcification were not related to the effects after NAC.

CONCLUSIONS

In cases of triple-negative breast cancer involving clear intratumoral necrosis with an irregular mass shape, it is predicted that the effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy will likely be poor, and therefore, the presence of such image findings may be useful for determining the optimal application of neoadjuvant chemotherapy.