Shadfar Bahri1, Jeon-Hor Chen1,2, Ke Nie1, Rita S. Mehta3, Philip M. Carpenter4, Soon-Young Kwon4, Hon J. Yu1, Orhan Nalcioglu1, Min- Ying Su1
1Tu & Yuen Center for Functional Onco-Imaging, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA; 2Department of Radiology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 3Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, USA; 4Department of Pathology, University of California, Irvine, USA
The pathological response in breast cancer patients receiving anti-angiogenic therapy using Avastin, and the impact of Avastin on diagnostic performance of MRI after therapy was investigated. The pCR rates and residual disease patterns were comparable between patients receiving Avastin vs. those not. The size measured on MRI was highly accurate for mass lesions that shrank down to nodules. For residual disease as scattered cells within a large fibrotic region, MRI could not predict them accurately. The fact that the accuracy of MRI was comparable between 2 groups suggests that treatment with Avastin did not compromise the diagnostic accuracy of MRI.