Molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer: correlation between PET/computed tomography and MRI findings

Abstract

Objective The aim of the study was to investigate the diagnostic value of fluorodeoxyglucose-18 (FDG)-PET/computed tomography (CT) and MRI parameters in determining the molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer. Methods Data from 55 primary invasive breast cancer masses in 51 female patients who underwent pre-treatment PET/CT and MRI scans, and histopathological diagnosis at the authors’ center were retrospectively reviewed. The relationship between FDG-PET/CT and MRI parameters, including maximum and mean standard uptake values (SUVmax and SUVmean, respectively), mean metabolic index (MImean) and metabolic tumor volume (MTV) values obtained from FDG-PET, and shape, margin, internal contrast-enhancement characteristics, kinetic curve types, functional tumor volume (FTV), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values obtained from MRI was evaluated. Subsequently, differences among molecular subtypes (i.e. luminal A, luminal B, c-erbB-2 positive, and triple-negative) in terms of PET/CT and MRI parameters were evaluated. Results The luminal B subtype of invasive breast cancer had higher SUVmax and SUVmean (P = 0.002 and P = 0.017, respectively) values than the luminal A subtype. In addition, the triple-negative subtype had a higher SUVmax (P = 0.028) than the luminal A subtype. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between pathological tumor volume (PTV) and SUVmean (P = 0.019, r = 0.720). SUVmax and ADC were negatively correlated (P = 0.001; r = −0.384). A very strong positive correlation was detected between MTV and FTV (P = 0.000; r = 0.857), and between MTV and PTV (P = 0.006, r = 0.796), and between FTV and PTV (P = 0.006, r = 0.921). Conclusion Results of the present study suggest that SUVmax was superior to MRI findings in predicting molecular subtypes and that MRI was superior to PET/CT in predicting PTV.

The Effect of PACS in Breast Tumor Diagnosis Based on Numerical Analysis

“…PACS has an important application in tumor diagnosis because of its high spatial and density resolution. In this study, the tumor density was slightly higher than that of the gland on PACS plain scan, and the PACS values were more variable on enhanced scan, which is consistent with previous studies, due to the abnormal metabolism of breast tumor, the varying degree of development, and the high iodine uptake by tumor cells [21].…”

A Simultaneous Multiparametric 18F-FDG PET/MRI Radiomics Model for the Diagnosis of Triple Negative Breast Cancer

“…PET and MRI represent the most promising imaging modalities for this purpose, due to their ability to non-invasively inform on cancer metabolism, cellularity, and neoangiogenesis. Such properties are reported to be different between BC subtypes which exhibit different biological aggressiveness and behavior [ 32 ]. TNBC is characterized by higher glucose metabolism, which is reflected in its higher SUV values compared with other BC subtypes as seen in other studies [ 32 , 33 ] as well as in this investigation.…”

“…Such properties are reported to be different between BC subtypes which exhibit different biological aggressiveness and behavior [ 32 ]. TNBC is characterized by higher glucose metabolism, which is reflected in its higher SUV values compared with other BC subtypes as seen in other studies [ 32 , 33 ] as well as in this investigation. However, quantitative parameters (e.g., DWI-ADC values) alone do not seem to be accurate enough to discriminate molecular BC subtype; thus, more sophisticated AI-enhanced approaches are necessary [ 34 ].…”

Micropapillary Breast Carcinoma: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Prognosis

“… 41 Recently, Akin et al investigated how accurately PET-CT scan and MRI could detect breast cancer subtypes in 55 tumors. 136 They found that although the SUVmax value from PET-CT scan was high for the Luminal A subtype, it was lower than the SUVmax value of the other breast cancer subtypes. PET-CT scan was better at identifying the molecular subtype of the breast cancer; however, MRI was superior at determining the tumor size, thus better for staging.…”