Abstract #3483

Pickles M, Lowry M, Manton D, Tozer D, Hubbard A, Turnbull L, Maraveyas A

MRI and unsuppressed proton spectroscopic imaging were carried out at 1.5 T in 16 women before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for primary, inoperable breast cancer (six courses). Water ADC was measured, pharmacokinetic parameters were derived from DCE-MRI, and water T2 and water:fat signal ratios were determined spectroscopically. Three of the women developed metastases during clinical follow-up and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were undertaken. Pharmacokinetic exchange rate, water:fat ratio, water T2 and ADC data all correlated significantly with the length of post-surgery disease-free survival (p=0.049 log-rank tests) suggesting that quantitative MRI and spectroscopic imaging may have prognostic utility in this patient group.