In this Wednesday afternoon session, Dr. Sandy Lee will present results from a study she and colleagues conducted to compare the two modalities. The study included 18 women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer who were undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy and who had contrast-enhanced ultrasound and contrast-enhanced MRI exams as part of their preoperative imaging protocol.
Each woman had three ultrasound scans and at least two MRI scans; these exams were performed before chemotherapy began, three weeks after the initiation of chemotherapy, and after the completion of chemotherapy prior to surgery. Lee's team recorded each modality's ability to identify the lesion, its size, and the percent of necrosis.
The mean size of the tumor at baseline was 3.4 cm on ultrasound and 4.3 cm on MRI. Lee and colleagues found 80% agreement between the two modalities when comparing the percentage of tumor necrosis.
The results suggest contrast-enhanced ultrasound could be a less invasive and less costly way to monitor treatment response in patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer, they concluded.
