Highlights
- •The alteration of the echogenicity of breast cancer tumors during NAC correlated with pathological response.
- •Persistent tumor hypoechogenicity after 3 courses of NAC predicts a poor response to treatment.
- •Lesion size and elasticity were important factors in predicting response to NAC.
Abstract
Purpose
To evaluate the ultrasound (US) response in patients with breast cancer (BC) during
neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).
Methods
Prospective US analysis was performed on 19 malignant tumors prior to NAC treatment
and 7 days after each first four courses of NAC in 13 patients (median age = 57 years).
Echogenicity, size, vascularity, and sonoelastography were measured and compared with
posttreatment scores of residual cancers burden.
Results
Changes in the echogenicity of tumors after 3 courses of NAC had the most statistically
strong correlation with the percentage of residual malignant cells used in histopathology
to assess the response to treatment (odds ratio = 60, p < 0.05). Changes in lesion size and elasticity were also significant (p < 0.05).
Conclusions
There is a statistically significant relationship between breast tumors' echogenicity
in US, neoplasm size, and stiffness and the response to NAC. In particular, our results
show that the change in tumor echogenicity could predict a pathological response with
satisfactory accuracy and may be considered in NAC monitoring.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 26, 2019
Accepted:
January 25,
2019
Received in revised form:
December 16,
2018
Received:
September 16,
2018
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
