Pharmacokinetic, shape and texture parameters: comparison with breast tumour grade

Introduction

The histological tumour grade is one of the most important biological prognostic factors in breast cancer. The aim of our study was to compare pharmacokinetic, shape and texture parameters from breast DCE-MRI with the breast tumour grade.

Methods

Two hundred and two malignant breast lesions for which the histological grade was available were scanned on a 1.5 T scanner. The 2D T1W FSPGR dynamic scans were followed by 3D T1W FSPGR fat-saturated post-contrast scans. Various pharmacokinetic [1], texture [2] and shape [3] parameters were calculated and the significance of each of the parameters for each of the three tumour grades was assessed.

Results

The 202 lesions were 36 grade I, 110 grade II and 56 grade III malignant lesions. Pharmacokinetic parameter K^trans (P = 0.025) and shape parameter phi1 (P = 0.039) were significantly different between the grades of tumours. However, there was significant overlap between the tumour grades for both of these parameters. None of the texture parameters were significantly different between the tumour grades.

Conclusion

Although K^trans and phi1 were significantly different between breast tumour grades, none of the pharmacokinetic, shape and texture parameters can be reliably used to differentiate various tumour grades at the present time.