Evaluation of the relationship between the dynamic magnetic resonance imaging findings and histopathological prognostic factors in breast cancer

The breast cancer is ranked among the most fatal kind of cancers. Therefore, determining prognosis in patients with breast cancer is of great importance. There are many histopathological prognostic factors in breast cancer that are accepted or at research stage which guide the treatment and help foresee the prognosis. Morphological and kinetical characteristics of the breast lesions can be evaluated through the dynamic breast MRI. In this study, the purpose is to determine whether there is a relationship between the dynamic MRI findings that are obtained before the operation of the patients with the diagnosis of breast cancer and the histopathological prognostic factors, and to have an opinion about the prognosis of the patients in this way. The study involved 30 patients aged between 35 and 68 who were histopathologically diagnosed with breast cancer and had a breast MRI before the operation. The patients were evaluated through the 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance device by using breast bobbins. Functional features of the lesions were evaluated through the dynamic images obtained such as the contrasting patterns and the time-signal intensity curves in addition to the locations, the forms and the marginal features of them, and whether they had a mass formation. The classical histopathological prognostic factors such as the tumor diameter, the presence of axillary lymph nodes, the histological grade and the lymphovascular invasion as well as the ER, PR expressions were assessed as the Ki-67 and C-erb-B2 molecular histopathological prognostic factors. The statistical relationship between the determined dynamic MRI findings and the histopathological prognostic factors was evaluated through the Pearson chi-squared test. In our study, a statistically significant relationship was found between the feature of spicule margin, which is one of the morphological findings of the dynamic breast MRI and the progesterone receptor positivity. The presence of the spicule margin in the breast masses can be accepted as the indicator of a good prognosis, and MRI can be used in order to foresee the prognosis. Key Words: Breast cancer, dynamic breast MRI, histopathological prognostic factors