Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38967659›Full record

Observational studyEuropean radiology2024

Diffusion-weighted imaging in addition to contrast-enhanced MRI in identifying complete response in HER2-positive breast cancer.

Anna van der Voort, Kay J J van der Hoogt, Ronni Wessels, Robert-Jan Schipper, Jelle Wesseling, Gabe S Sonke, Ritse M Mann

Erratum issuedAbstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in European radiology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 12 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Comparison of [European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Monitoring Pharmacological Treatment of Breast Cancer with MRI.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025
    Review
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Omitting sentinel lymph node biopsy in early breast cancer: too bold or the future?Translational breast cancer research : a journal focusing on translational research in breast cancer · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Anna van der VoortDepartment of Medical Oncology, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.vd.voort@nki.nl.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2016-1971
Kay J J van der HoogtDepartment of Radiology, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Ronni WesselsDepartment of Radiology, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Robert-Jan SchipperDepartment of Radiology, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Jelle WesselingDepartment of Pathology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Gabe S SonkeDepartment of Medical Oncology, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Ritse M MannDepartment of Radiology, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThe aim of this study is to investigate the added value of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to dynamic-contrast enhanced (DCE)-MRI to identify a pathological complete response (pCR) in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer and radiological complete response (rCR). MATERIALS AND

methodsThis is a single-center observational study of 102 patients with stage I-III HER2-positive breast cancer and real-world documented rCR on DCE-MRI. Patients were treated between 2015 and 2019. Both 1.5 T/3.0 T single-shot diffusion-weighted echo-planar sequence were used. Post neoadjuvant systemic treatment (NST) diffusion-weighted images were reviewed by two readers for visual evaluation and ADCmean. Discordant cases were resolved in a consensus meeting. pCR of the breast (ypT0/is) was used to calculate the negative predictive value (NPV). Breast pCR-percentages were tested with Fisher's exact test. ADCmean and ∆ADCmean(%) for patients with and without pCR were compared using a Mann-Whitney U-test.

resultsThe NPV for DWI added to DCE is 86% compared to 87% for DCE alone in hormone receptor (HR)-/HER2-positive and 67% compared to 64% in HR-positive/HER2-positive breast cancer. Twenty-seven of 39 non-rCR DWI cases were false positives. In HR-positive/HER2-positive breast cancer the NPV for DCE MRI differs between MRI field strength (1.5 T: 50% vs. 3 T: 81% [p = 0.02]). ADCmean at baseline, post-NST, and ∆ADCmean were similar between patients with and without pCR.

conclusionDWI has no clinically relevant effect on the NPV of DCE alone to identify a pCR in early HER2-positive breast cancer. The added value of DWI in HR-positive/HER2-positive breast cancer should be further investigated taken MRI field strength into account. CLINICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: The residual signal on DWI after neoadjuvant systemic therapy in cases with early HER2-positive breast cancer and no residual pathologic enhancement on DCE-MRI breast should not (yet) be considered in assessing a complete radiologic response. KEY POINTS: Radiologic complete response is associated with a pathologic complete response (pCR) in HER2+ breast cancer but further improvement is warranted. No relevant increase in negative predictive value was observed when DWI was added to DCE. Residual signal on DW-images without pathologic enhancement on DCE-MRI, does not indicate a lower chance of pCR.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsContrast MediaDiffusion Magnetic Resonance ImagingErb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine KinasesAdultAgedFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMiddle AgedNeoadjuvant TherapyRetrospective StudiesTreatment OutcomeContrast MediaERBB2 protein, humanErb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine KinasesDiffusion-weighted imagingHER2 positive breast cancerMagnetic resonance imagingNeoadjuvant therapyResponse

Identifiers

PMID38967659
PMCPMC11557627

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.