Original Article

Diffusion-Weighted Imaging of Breast Cancer: Correlation of the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Value with Pathologic Prognostic Factors

10.5152/ejbh.2019.4860

  • Şehnaz Tezcan
  • Nihal Uslu
  • Funda Ulu Öztürk
  • Eda Yılmaz Akçay
  • Tugan Tezcaner

Received Date: 26.03.2019 Accepted Date: 24.06.2019 Eur J Breast Health 2019;15(4):262-267

Objective:

The aim was to evaluate relationship between apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values with pathologic prognostic factors in breast carcinoma (BC).

Materials and Methods:

83 patients were enrolled in this study. Prognostic factors included age, tumor size, expression of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), nuclear grade (NG), lymph node involvement and histologic type. The relationship between ADC and prognostic factors was determined using Independent sample t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation and relative operating characteristics (ROC) analysis.

Results:

There was no significant difference between ADC and prognostic factors, including age, tumor size, ER, HER2 and histologic type. The PRpositive tumors (p=0.03) and axillary lymph node involvement (p=0.000) showed a significant association with lower ADC values. The ADC values were significantly lower in high-grade tumors than low-grade tumors (p=0.000). ROC analysis showed an optimal ADC threshold of 0.66 (×10-3 mm2/s) for differentiating low-grade tumors from high-grade tumors (sensitivity, 85.5%; specificity, 81%; area under curve, 0.90).

Conclusion:

The lower ADC values of BC were significantly associated with positive expression of PR, LN positivity and high-grade tumor. Especially, ADC values were valuable in predicting NG subgroups

Keywords: Breast cancer, diffusion-weighted imaging, apparent diffusion coefficient, prognostic factors