Review of treatment assessment using DCE-MRI in breast cancer radiation therapy

Table 1 Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging parameter correlations with physiological parameters at breast tissue

Ref.	Correlation		Direction of correlation	P
	Physiological parameter	DCE-MRI measurement
Buadu et al[76], 1996	MVD	Amplitude	+	< 0.01
		Slope maximum	+	< 0.01
		Enhancement Maximum time	-	< 0.01
		Tumor size	..	NS
Stomper et al[77], 1996	DNA S-phase percentage	Signal enhancement amplitude	..	NS
		Signal enhancement rate	..	NS
		Signal washout	..	NS
Hulka et al[78], 1997	Tumor grade	RSI	+	< 0.01
Matsubayashi et al[79], 2000	Peripheral-central MVD ratio	Early rim enhancement	+	0.048
	Peripheral-central fibrosis ratio	Early rim enhancement	-	< 0.01
	Central-peripheral fibrosis ratio	Delayed rim	+	0.013
Gianfelice et al[80], 2003	Residue tumor percentage after MRIgFUS	ISI	+	NR
		MDF	+	NR
		PEI	+	NR
Su et al[81], 2003	VEGF	Apparent Vb	..	NS
		In-flux rate and distribution volume in interstitial space (VeK1)	..	NS
		Out-flux rate (K2)	..	NS

NS: Not significant; NR: Not reported; RSI: Relative signal intensity; MVD: Microvessel density; ISI: Increase in signal intensity; MDF: Maximum difference function; PEI: Positive enhancement interal; Vb: Vascular volume; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor.

Table 2 Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging studies in breast cancer treatment assessment

Ref.	Treatment method	DCE-MRI measurement	Major results
Dao et al[82] 1993	Conserving radiation therapy	Signal intensity	The signal intensity over time in localized fibrosis showed a different pattern from the one in tumor recurrence; early increased signal intensity of the lesion within 3 min after CA administration were observed in recurrent tumors
Drew et al[83] 2001	Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy	DCE-MRI image	DCE-MRI detected the presence of residual disease with 100% accuracy
Hayes et al[16] 2002	Neoadjuvant chemotherapy	Ktrans	The absolute change in the Ktrans values correlated negatively with the pretreatment values. The trend is more obvious for responding patients
Martincich et al[38] 2004	Primary chemotherapy	ECU	ECU reduction was associated with a MHR (OR = 2.50, 95%CI: 0.263-23.775); no statistical significance was observed (P = 0.42)
Overmoyer et al[84] 2004	Antiangiogenic drug	Kep	Correlative studies suggested a reduction of tumor Kep and tumor MVD
Wedam et al[85] 2006	Antiangiogenic drug	Ktrans and ve	Ktrans decreased by 34.4% (P = 0.003), and ve was decreased by 14.3% (P = 0.002) after the treatment using bevacizumab
Yankeelov et al[52] 2007	Neoadjuvant chemotherapy	Ktrans, ve, and τi (average intracellular water lifetime)	Significant (P < 0.05) changes were seen in Ktrans and ve; Ktrans in voxels with values in 0.2-0.5 min-1 before treatment were found decreased (P < 0.035)
Chang et al[86] 2013	SBRT	iAUC5min	The mean iAUC5min in GTV increased from 1.93 ± 0.20 mmol-min to 2.31 ± 0.16 mmol-min, about 16% (P = 0.012) after treatment

Highlighted studies were related to radiation treatment. DCE-MRI: Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging; ECU: Early contrast uptake; MHR: Major histopathological response; GTV: Gross tumor volume; SBRT: Stereotactic body radiotherapy.