Pierluigi Di Giovanni1, Scott IK Semple2, Roger T. Staff1, Thomas W. Redpath1, Fiona J. Gilbert1
1Radiology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK; 2Medical Physics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Maps of the distribution of contrast agent within breast tumours can be produced by subtracting pre and post Gd-DTPA images. This subtraction map can be used for tumour heterogeneity analysis based on a fractal method. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the fractal information could provide any prognostic value in terms of tumour's pathological response. We have shown that there is a significant correlation with the tumour's pathological response and the goodness of fit of a breast tumour contrast distribution map into the fractal model (p < 0.01, Spearmans rho = 0.42)