Diagnostic Accuracy of Contrast-Enhanced Thoracic Photon-Counting Computed Tomography for Opportunistic Locoregional Staging of Breast Cancer Compared With Digital Mammography: A Prospective Trial

Jakob Neubauer; Caroline Wilpert; Oliver Gebler; Florin-Andrei Taran; Martin Pichotka; Thomas Stein; Moisés Felipe Molina-Fuentes; Jakob Weiss; Ingolf Juhasz-Böss; Fabian Bamberg; Marisa Windfuhr-Blum; Claudia Neubauer

doi:10.1097/RLI.0000000000001051

Diagnostic Accuracy of Contrast-Enhanced Thoracic Photon-Counting Computed Tomography for Opportunistic Locoregional Staging of Breast Cancer Compared With Digital Mammography: A Prospective Trial

Invest Radiol. 2023 Dec 1. doi: 10.1097/RLI.0000000000001051. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jakob Neubauer¹, Caroline Wilpert, Oliver Gebler, Florin-Andrei Taran, Martin Pichotka, Thomas Stein, Moisés Felipe Molina-Fuentes, Jakob Weiss, Ingolf Juhasz-Böss, Fabian Bamberg, Marisa Windfuhr-Blum, Claudia Neubauer

Affiliation

¹ From the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany (J.N., C.W., O.G., M.F.M.-F., J.W., F.B., M.W.-B., C.N.); Department of Gynecology, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany (F.-A.T., I.J.-B.); and Department of Medical Physics, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany (M.P., T.S.).

PMID: 38038693
DOI: 10.1097/RLI.0000000000001051

Abstract

Objective: Accurate locoregional staging is crucial for effective breast cancer treatment. Photon-counting computed tomography (PC-CT) is an emerging technology with high spatial resolution and the ability to depict uptake of contrast agents in tissues, making it a promising tool for breast cancer imaging. The aim of this study was to establish the feasibility of locoregional staging of breast cancer through contrast-enhanced thoracic PC-CT, assess its diagnostic performance, and compare it with that of digital mammography (DM).

Materials and methods: Patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer, DM, and indication of thoracic CT staging were prospectively enrolled in this clinical cohort study over a period of 6 months. Participants underwent contrast-enhanced thoracic PC-CT and breast magnetic resonance imaging in prone position. After blinding to patient data, 2 radiologists independently rated PC-CT and DM regarding the following 6 characteristics: (1) diameter of the largest mass lesion, (2) infiltration of cutis/pectoral muscle/thoracic wall, (3) number of mass lesions, (4) presence/absence of adjacent ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), (5) tumor conspicuity, and (6) diagnostic confidence. Reference standard was generated from consensus reading of magnetic resonance imaging combined with all histopathological/clinical data by an independent adjudication committee applying TNM eighth edition.

Results: Among 32 enrolled female subjects (mean ± SD age, 59 ± 13.0 years), diagnostic accuracy for T-classification was higher for PC-CT compared with DM (0.94 vs 0.50, P < 0.01). Moreover, the correlation of the number of detected tumor masses with the reference standard was stronger for PC-CT than for DM (0.72 vs 0.50, P < 0.01). We observed that PC-CT significantly (P < 0.04) outperformed DM regarding not only sensitivity (0.83 and 0.25, respectively) but also specificity (0.99 and 0.80, respectively) for adjacent DCIS. The κ values for interreader reliability were higher for PC-CT compared with DM (mean 0.88 vs 0.54, respectively; P = 0.01).

Conclusions: Photon-counting computed tomography outperformed DM in T-classification and provided higher diagnostic accuracy for the detection of adjacent DCIS. Therefore, opportunistic locoregional staging of breast cancer in contrast-enhanced thoracic PC-CT is feasible and could overcome limitations of DM with the potential to improve patient management.