A team led by Dr. Eun Young Chae from the University of Ulsan in Seoul, South Korea, sought to identify the connection between ultrasound imaging features and results from the Oncotype DX breast cancer assay in patients with this type of breast cancer. The study included 267 patients; breast radiologists blinded to the assay results reviewed the ultrasound images, and Chae and colleagues also measured tumor roundness.
Of the 267 patients, 147 (55%) had low, 96 (36%) had intermediate, and 24 (9%) had high recurrence scores on the breast cancer assay. On ultrasound, parallel orientation and tumor roundness were positively associated with high recurrence scores. This led the researchers to conclude that by identifying these specific features, ultrasound could help determine whether patients with ER-positive cancers are good candidates for adjuvant chemotherapy.
