Brain metastasis of breast cancer; imaging evaluation

CNS involvement in breast cancer modifies the prognosis and the treatment of the disease. Imaging plays a leading role for the diagnosis, the pretherapeutic assessment and the follow-up. MRI is the most sensitive modality for the detection of infraclinic lesions, reported in about 15% of metastatic breast cancers. In addition to conventional MR study, diffusion MR, perfusion MR and spectroscopy have a diagnostic value with specificity of more than 95%; 3D study is required if neurosurgical resection or stereotactic radiosurgery is contemplated. The use of new drugs in clinical trials needs a precise and accurate follow up to assess their usefulness; appreciation of the response is based on the precise mesure of the number of targets and of their size; The WHO and recently the RECIST have established the guidelines for measurement of the tumoral targets and to assess the response to treatments. Brain modifications related to surgery or stereotactic radiosurgery are well studied by MRI.