Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) is a management option for locally advanced breast cancer. The aim of NCT is to reduce tumor volume for the purpose of breast conservation and as a prognostic factor. The accurate assessment of residual tumor after neoadjuvant chemotherapy is an important prognostic factor for evaluating outcome and survival of the patient. Inaccuracy in evaluating tumor response will lead to a prolonged chemotherapy course and an unnecessarily wide resection. Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) represents the most accurate modality in the evaluation of tumor...

Study population Patients undergoing NCT and MRI at our institution between November 2010 and February 2014 were retrospectively included, with the following inclusion criteria: age between 18 and 65 years, presence of imaging-guided core-biopsy proven Stage II/III operable breast cancer (T > 3 cm) or inoperable locally-advanced breast cancer and unifocal or multiple masses at baseline MRI. Clinical and pathological features are summarized in Table 1. This study was conducted in compliance with the ethical regulatory issues of our Institution and patients were asked to...

5/44 patients were excluded (2 due to technical problems and 3 for lack of surgical information). Breast level Before NCT, both DWI and DCE-MRI identified 24 unifocal tumors and 15 multiple disease. The mean size was 49 mm (range 14-87mm) at DWI and 37,5 (range 30–50mm) at DCE-MRI. After the treatment, at both DWI and DCE-MRI concentric shrinkage was observed in 21 cases while fragmentation occurred in the remaining 18. At DWI the mean size was 34 mm (range 0-82 mm) while at DCE-MRI it...

This study demonstrates that the role of DWI in defining tumor response and planning breast surgery after NCT is more than promising. DWI resulted comparable to contrast enhanced MRI in the assessment of NCT response, showing similar results in defining PR, SD, and PD. DWI resulted inferior to DCE-MRI in defining CR (4 cases vs 10 cases) and this can be due to either different spatial resolution or presence of residual DCIS in the tumoral bed. Our study demonstrates that, despite this difference in the...

DESI GIAN LUCA, University of Turin, IRCCS-FPO Candiolo, Strada Provinciale, 142 – KM 3.95, 10060 Candiolo (TO), Italy; [email protected]; DORONZIO VALERIA, University of Turin, IRCCS-FPO Candiolo, Strada Provinciale, 142 – KM 3.95, 10060 Candiolo (TO), Italy; [email protected] ; TIMPANI ALESSANDRA, University of Turin, IRCCS-FPO Candiolo, Strada Provinciale, 142 – KM 3.95, 10060 Candiolo (TO), Italy; [email protected]; GIANNETTO GIULIANA,University of Turin, IRCCS-FPO Candiolo, Strada Provinciale, 142 – KM 3.95, 10060 Candiolo (TO), Italy; [email protected]; MAGLIA CLAUDIO,University of Turin, IRCCS-FPO Candiolo, Strada Provinciale, 142 – KM 3.95,...

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