IVIM and DCE-MRI in Predicting Phenotypic Subtypes and Nottingham Prognostic Index of Breast Cancer

Objective: To explore the value of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) and dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) for predicting phenotypic subtypes and Nottingham prognostic index (NPI) of breast cancer. Study Design: Descriptive study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University, Jining, Shandong, China, from March 2020 to January 2022. Methodology: One hundred and forty-one breast cancer patients with preoperative IVIM and DCE imaging were collected. IVIM parameters of D, D*, f, and DCE-MRI parameters of K-trans, Kep, and Ve were measured. Receiver operating characteristic curves were conducted to assess the diagnostic efficacies. Additionally, 40 patients collected from February 2022 to July 2022 were enrolled as validation cohort. Results: The D value in HER2-enriched (HER2-E) was lower than that in non -HER -E, while D*, K-trans, and Ve values were higher than that in non -HER -E (p < 0.001, 0.046, < 0.001, and < 0.001, respectively). D + K-trans + Ve showed an optimal diagnostic efficiency (AUC = 0.868). Meanwhile, D* and f values of triple -negative breast cancer (TNBC) were higher than those of non-TNBC, and Ve value of TNBC was lower than that of non-TNBC (p = 0.013, 0.006, and < 0.001, respectively). D* + f+ Ve showed the best prediction performance (AUC = 0.849). Additionally, D and Kep were independent predictors of NPI (p < 0.001, and 0.002, respectively). D + Kep showed a good diagnostic efficiency (AUC = 0.818). Conclusion: The combined IVIM and DCE-MRI model showed enhanced diagnostic efficiency in predicting phenotypic subtypes and NPI of breast cancer, and might thus be considered efficient in therapy decision -making for patients.