Xia Li1, Lori R. Arlinghaus1, A. Bapsi chakravarthy1, E. Brian Welch1, Jaime Farley1, Ingrid A. Mayer1, Vandana G. Abramson1, Richard G. Abramson1, Mark C. Kelley1, Ingrid M. Meszoely1, Julie A. Means-Powell1, Ana M. Grau1, Sandeep Bhave1, Thomas E. Yankeelov1
1Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, United States
Tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy is currently monitored by frank changes in tumor size, which often do not correlate with pathologic findings at surgery. DCE-MRI offers information related to tumor perfusion and permeability, vascular volume, and extravascular extracellular volume fraction. In this study, we attempted to determine the optimal analysis method for assessing if changes in these parameters after one cycle of therapy could separate pathologic complete responders from non-responders. The results show that tumor perfusion and permeability and vascular volume yield significant differences between responders and non-responders, but that changes in tumor volume do not.