Cancers
Is the MRI Phenotype Associated with Survival in Patients with Different Breast Cancer Subtypes?
By Carla Chizuru Tajima, Soraia Quaranta Damião, Cynthia Aparecida Bueno de Toledo Osorio and 3 others.
Abstract
Background
Breast cancer exhibits marked molecular and phenotypic heterogeneity, with important implications for prognosis and therapeutic response. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is widely used for detection and staging, its potential role as a prognostic biomarker across molecular subtypes remains incompletely understood. This study aimed to evaluate the association between MRI-defined tumor imaging phenotypes and disease-free survival (DFS) among different breast cancer molecular subtypes.
Methods
This retrospective single-center study included 407 patients with invasive breast carcinoma of no special type who underwent pre-treatment breast MRI between October 2015 and May 2021. Tumors were classified into molecular subtypes and three MRI phenotypes based on lesion morphology and distribution. Associations between imaging phenotype, molecular subtype, and DFS were assessed using Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards models.