Sonia P. Li1, N J. Taylor2, J J.
Stirling2, Mei-Lin W. Ah-See1, Mark J. Beresford1,
David J. Collins3, James A. d'Arcy3, Andreas Makris1,
Anwar R. Padhani2
1Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood,
Middlesex HA6 2RN, United Kingdom; 2Paul Strickland Scanner
Centre, Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2RN, United Kingdom; 3CR-UK
Clinical MR Research Group, Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, Surrey, SM2 5PT,
United Kingdom
R2*
has potential to provide information about tumour oxygenation but is
underexplored in breast cancer. Here, primary carcinomas were imaged with
multiparametric MRI before and after 2 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Correlations between R2* and kinetic parameters were investigated.
R2* as a predictor of pathological benefit was compared with
DCE/DSC-MRI parameters. Significant inverse correlations between R2*
and blood flow/volume in untreated cancers confirm that R2*
reflects blood oxygenation; however this relationship disappears after
treatment. Increases in R2* in responders suggest that cancers
become more hypoxic with successful treatment. R2* was a
relatively poor response predictor compared with some DCE and DSC-MRI
parameters.