Preoperative Staging in Breast Cancer: Intraindividual Comparison of Unenhanced MRI Combined With Digital Breast Tomosynthesis and Dynamic Contrast Enhanced-MRI

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the accuracy in lesion detection and size assessment of Unenhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging combined with Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (UE-MRI+DBT) and Dynamic Contrast Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI), in women with known breast cancer.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 84 patients with histological diagnosis of breast cancer, who underwent MRI on a 3T scanner and DBT over 2018-2019, in our Institution. Two radiologists, with 15 and 7 years of experience in breast imaging respectively, reviewed DCE-MRI and UE-MRI (including DWI and T2-w) + DBT images in separate reading sections, unaware of the final histological examination. DCE-MRI and UE-MRI+DBT sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV) and accuracy were calculated, using histology as the gold standard. Spearman correlation and regression analyses were performed to evaluate lesion size agreement between DCE-MRI vs Histology, UE-MRI+DBT vs Histology, and DCE-MRI vs UE-MRI+DBT. Inter-reader agreement was evaluated using Cohen's κ coefficient. McNemar test was used to identify differences in terms of detection rate between the two methodological approaches. Spearman's correlation analysis was also performed to evaluate the correlation between ADC values and histological features.

Results: 109 lesions were confirmed on histological examination. DCE-MRI showed high sensitivity (100% Reader 1, 98% Reader 2), good PPV (89% Reader 1, 90% Reader 2) and accuracy (90% for both readers). UE-MRI+DBT showed 97% sensitivity, 91% PPV and 92% accuracy, for both readers. Lesion size Spearman coefficient were 0.94 (Reader 1) and 0.91 (Reader 2) for DCE-MRI vs Histology; 0.91 (Reader 1) and 0.90 (Reader 2) for UE-MRI+DBT vs Histology (p-value <0.001). DCE-MRI vs UE-MRI+DBT regression coefficient was 0.96 for Reader 1 and 0.94 for Reader 2. Inter-reader agreement was 0.79 for DCE-MRI and 0.94 for UE-MRI+DBT. McNemar test did not show a statistically significant difference between DCE-MRI and UE-MRI+DBT (McNemar test p-value >0.05). Spearman analyses showed an inverse correlation between ADC values and histological grade (p-value <0.001).

Conclusions: DCE-MRI was the most sensitive imaging technique in breast cancer preoperative staging. However, UE-MRI+DBT demonstrated good sensitivity and accuracy in lesion detection and tumor size assessment. Thus, UE-MRI could be a valid alternative when patients have already performed DBT.

Keywords: breast cancer; diffusion weighed imaging; digital breast tomosynthesis; preoperative staging; unenhanced protocol.