Sonia P. Li1, N.
Jane Taylor2, Shaveta Mehta3, Nicholas P. Hughes4,
J. James Stirling2, Ian C. Simcock2, David J. Collins5,
James A. d'Arcy5, Martin O. Leach5, Adrian L. Harris3,
Andreas Makris1, Anwar R. Padhani2
1Mount Vernon
Hospital, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2RN, United Kingdom; 2Paul
Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, Middlesex HA6
2RN, United Kingdom; 3University Department of Medical Oncology,
Churchill Hospital, Oxford OX3 7LJ, United Kingdom; 4Department of
Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5427,
USA; 5CRUK-EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre, Institute of Cancer
Research & Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5PT, United Kingdom
Bevacizumab is an anti-VEGF antibody targeting abnormal tumour neovasculature. Intrinsic susceptibility-weighted and Diffusion-weighted MRI can depict treatment induced changes in tumour oxygenation and cellularity. 17 patients with chemotherapy nave primary breast cancer were imaged before and after one single dose of Bevacizumab prior to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Reductions observed in ADC and DCE-MRI kinetic parameters are consistent with reductions in tumour perfusion. Increases in R2* are also a result of decreases in tumour perfusion which lead to tumour hypoxia. DCE, DW and ISW-MRI changes after one dose of bevacizumab can serve as early biomarkers of anti-angiogenic action in primary breast cancers.