Correlation of perfusion parameters on dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI with prognostic factors and subtypes of breast cancers

Purpose: To investigate whether a correlation exists between perfusion parameters obtained from dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and prognostic factors or immunohistochemical subtypes of breast cancers. Materials and Methods: Quantitative parameters (Ktrans, kep, and ve) of 70 invasive ductal carcinomas were obtained using DCE-MRI as a postprocessing procedure. Correlations between parameters and prognostic factors, including tumor size, axillary nodal status, histologic grade, nuclear grade, expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), Ki-67, p53, bcl-2, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and subtypes categorized as luminal (ER or PR-positive), triple negative (ER or PR-negative, HER2-negative), and HER2 (ER and PR-negative, HER2 overexpression) were analyzed. Results: Mean Ktrans was higher in tumors with a high histologic grade than with a low histologic grade (P = 0.007), with a high nuclear grade than with a low nuclear grade (P = 0.002), and with ER negativity than ER positivity (P = 0.056). Mean kep was higher in tumors with a high histologic grade than with a low histologic grade (P = 0.005), with a high nuclear grade than with a low nuclear grade (P = 0.001), and with ER negativity than with ER positivity (P = 0.043). Mean ve was lower in tumors with a high histologic grade than with a low histologic grade (P = 0.038) and with ER negativity than with ER positivity (P = 0.015). Triple-negative cancers showed a higher mean kep than the luminal type (P = 0.015). Conclusion: Breast cancers with higher Ktrans and kep, or lower ve, had poor prognostic factors and were often of the triple-negative subtype. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2012;36:145151. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.