Multidetector computed tomography assessment on tumor size and nodal status in patients with locally advanced breast cancer before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Aims To evaluate the utility of multidetector computed tomography (MCT) in assessing tumor size and nodal status in patients with advanced breast cancers before and after the neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods Twenty-eight proven locally advanced breast cancer patients with 30 tumors were enrolled in this study. MCT was used to assess tumor size and axillary lymph nodes before and after the neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The correlation between tumor size on MCT and gross tumor size was tested. Results The MCT measurements documented complete response in 3, partial response in 18, non-response in 8 and progressed in 1. The mean tumor diameters on pathology and post-chemotherapy MCT were 3.6 cm (S.D. = ±2.9 cm) and 3.1 cm (S.D. = ±2.6 cm), respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.76 (p < 0.001). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive valve, negative predictive valve and accuracy of MCT in diagnosing the axillary lymph node metastases after pre-operative neoadjuvant chemotherapy were counted, respectively, to 72%, 40%, 85.7%, 22.2% and 66.7%. All the 5 downstaged axillary nodal statuses from node-positive to node-negative on MCT had micrometastases. Conclusion MCT can be used to evaluate tumor size and nodal status in patients with advanced breast cancer. As there is a baseline MCT before chemotherapy for comparison, we are potentially aware of the possibility of false negative nodal micrometastases on the post-chemotherapy MCT.