Value of Quantitative MRI Combined with Blood CTC in Predicting the Prognosis of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer

Article ID: 4676

Abstract

Objective To analyze the value of quantitative parameters of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with circulating tumor cells (CTC) in predicting the prognosis of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for breast cancer. Methods Totally 98 patients who were initially diagnosed as breast cancer and underwent NAC in the hospital from January 2022 to January 2024 were selected. MRI was evaluated 4 weeks after the end of NAC, and modified radical surgery was performed in our hospital. According to RECIST 1.1 criteria, the patients were divided into treatment effective group (n=47) and treatment ineffective group (n=51). The volume transfer constant (Ktrans), extravascular extracel lular space volume ratio (Ve), rate constant (Kep), and positive rate of CTC were compared between the two groups before and after treatment. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was used to express the prognostic value. Results Among the 98 patients, 47 cases were effective, and the effective rate was 47.96%. After treatment, Ktrans, Kep, and positive rate of CTC were lower than those before treatment (P<0.05), and were lower in the treatment effective group than in the treatment ineffective group (P<0.05). Ktrans, Kep, and positive rate of CTC were positively correlated with TNM staging (P<0.05). The Ktrans, Kep, and AUC value of CTC positivity in predicting NAC efficacy in breast cancer patients were 0.717, 0.785, and 0.656. The AUC of joint prediction was 0.847, which was larger than separate prediction. The sensitivity and specificity of joint prediction were 67.65% and 90.38%. Conclusion The quantitative parameters of MRI and blood CTC are closely related to clinical stage. Their combination can effectively help to predict the prognosis of NAC in patients with breast cancer.