Novel Imaging Approach Under Study to Distinguish Benign From Malignant Breast Tumors

By: Joseph Fanelli
Posted: Wednesday, May 17, 2023

According to findings presented in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, tumor texture heterogeneity changes, captured using fractal dimension, may be potential imaging biomarkers for malignant lesions in breast cancer. In addition, undergoing the noninvasive quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI approach may be more comfortable and less stressful for patients than a biopsy procedure, concluded Mohan L. Jayatilake, PhD, of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and colleagues.

“This approach has the potential to become an important clinical tool in the emerging era of precision medicine to distinguish malignant breast lesions from benign lesions and support medical decision-making,” the authors said.

In this study, the authors analyzed 18 lesions using parametric maps for pharmacokinetic parameters. Those included extravasation rate of contrast agent from blood plasma to extravascular extracellular space (K^trans) and volume fraction of extravascular extracellular space (v_e). Then tumor and DCE-MRI time-course data were analyzed to extract pixel values of K^trans and v_e.

The investigators found that the fractal dimension values of K^trans  for benign and malignant lesions varied from 2.96 to 3.49 and 2.37 to 3.16, respectively. Fractal dimension values for v_e for benign and malignant lesions also varied from 3.01 to 5.15 and 2.42 to 3.44, respectively. In addition, the authors observed significant differences in fractal dimension values derived from K^trans and parametric maps (P = .0053) and v_e parametric maps (P = .0271) between benign and malignant lesions.

Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.

JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics

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