Prospective early response imaging biomarker for neoadjuvant breast cancer chemotherapy

Abstract

Purpose: The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2006, 212,920 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and that 40,970 women will die from the disease. The development of more efficacious chemotherapies has improved outcomes, but the rapid assessment of clinical benefit from these agents remains challenging. In breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, treatment response is traditionally assessed by physical examination and volumetric-based measurements, which are subjective and require macroscopic changes in tumor morphology. In this study, we evaluate the feasibility of using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a reliable and quantitative measure for the..