Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is generally an effective method of reducing locally advanced malignant breast lesions before surgery; assessing the tumor response to NAC is crucial for patient management. T2 relaxation times can reflect biological state of lesions, may prove useful to assess the response to NAC.
Objectives: To investigate the lesion T2 relaxation times change in breast cancer neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).
Patients and methods: In total, 26 patients underwent NAC. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2 mapping was performed before and after NAC. The T2 relaxation times were obtained by using Functool software on an AW 43 workstation. The treatment response was assessed according to the pathological response classification. We aimed to analyze the changes in the T2 relaxation times before and after NAC as well as to study the relationship between the response and the lesion T2 relaxation times after NAC.
Results: In 26 cases with NAC, the mean lesion T2 relaxation time before NAC was 81.34 ± 13.68 ms, compared with 64.50 ± 8.71 ms after NAC. Significant differences in the lesion T2 relaxation times existed between the pre- and post-NAC (P < 0.001) ; based on the pathology results, the mean lesion T2 relaxation times in 23 of the 26 responders (63.18 ± 8.37 ms) was shorter than in 3 of the 26 nonresponders (74.62 ± 2.32 ms) after NAC (P = 0.029).
Conclusion: In breast cancer after NAC, the lesion T2 relaxation time was reduced in the responders, and this finding is potentially useful to assess the response to NAC.
Keywords: Breast Neoplasms; MRI; T2 Relaxometry.