The value of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI in the diagnosis and management of triple-negative breast cancer

Abstract

Abstract Background Breast cancer is undoubtedly the world’s most frequent cancer among women. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer that does not express estrogen, progesterone, or human epidermal growth factor receptors, yet its imaging is considered a challenge to radiologists having imprecise features. In this study, we aimed at defining the MRI characteristics of triple-negative breast cancer to validate its impact on management. Results Most of the TNBCs in this study showed malignant pattern kinetic curves (types II and III), 87/104 (83.7%), and P value 0.673 (not significant), and regarding the type of lesion enhancement, 104/172 cases (60.5%) showed mass enhancement compared to 52/172 (30.2%) non-mass enhancement and 16/172 (9.3%) focus enhancement, P value 0.185 (not significant). As for the internal enhancement pattern of mass lesions, rim internal enhancement was predominant in TNBC mass lesions, 48/104 (46.2%), as well as intratumoral bright signal intensity on T2-weighted images, 108/172 (62.8%), P value 0.001 (highly significant). Conclusion Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) are larger, better defined, and more necrotic than conventional cancers. On MRI, necrosis yields high T2-weighted signal intensity.

Keywords

• Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI
• Triple-negative breast cancer