Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

MR imaging of triple-negative breast cancer

  • Special Feature
  • Imaging findings of triple-negative breast cancer
  • Published:
Breast Cancer Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Little is known about the MR imaging features of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), but TNBC has a worse prognosis because it has no effective therapeutic targets, such as estrogen receptor for endocrine therapy and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) for anti-HER2 therapy. MR findings of a unifocal lesion, mass lesion type, smooth mass margin, rim heterogeneous enhancement, persistent enhancement pattern, and very high signal intensity on T2-weighted images are typical features of breast MR imaging associated with TNBC. Although TNBC can mimic a benign morphology, the early MR imaging recognition of TNBC could assist in both the pretreatment planning and the prognosis, as well as adding to our understanding of the biological behavior of TNBC.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gluz O, Liedtke C, Gottschalk N, Pusztai L, Nitz U, Harbeck N. Triple-negative breast cancer–current status and future directions. Ann Oncol. 2009;20:1913–27.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Kreike B, van Kouwenhove M, Horlings H, et al. Gene expression profiling and histopathological characterization of triple-negative/basal-like breast carcinomas. Breast Cancer Res. 2007;9:R65.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Rakha EA, Reis-Filho JS, Ellis IO. Basal-like breast cancer: a critical review. J Clin Oncol. 2008;26:2568–81.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Kuhl CK. The current status of breast MR imaging. Part 1. Choice of technique, image interpretation, diagnostic accuracy, and transfer to clinical practice. Radiology. 2007;244:356–78.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Benndorf M, Baltzer PA, Vag T, Gajda M, Runnebaum IB, Kaiser WA. Breast MRI as an adjunct to mammography: does it really suffer from low specificity? A retrospective analysis stratified by mammographic BI-RADS class. Acta Radiol. 2010;51:715–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Okafuji T, Yabuuchi H, Soeda H, et al. Circumscribed mass lesions on mammography: dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging to differentiated malignancy and benignancy. Magn Reson Med Sci. 2008;7:195–204.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Uematsu T, Kasami M, Yuen S. Triple-negative breast cancer: correlation between MR imaging and pathological findings. 2009;250:638–47.

  8. Dogan BE, Gonzalez-Angulo AM, Gilcrease M, Dryden MJ, Yang WT. Multimodality imaging of triple receptor-negative tumors with mammography, ultrasound, and MRI. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2010;194:1160–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Sardnelli F, Boetes C, Borisch B, Decker T, Federico M, Gilbrt FJ, et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of the breast: Recommendations from the EUSOMA working group. Eur J Cancer. 2010;46:1296–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Chatterji M, Mercado CL, Moy L. Optimizing 1.5-tesla and 3-tesla dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the breasts. Magn Reson Imaging Clin N Am. 2010;18:207–24.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Rausch DR, Hendrick RE. How to optimize clinical breast MR imaging practices and techniques on your 1.5-T system. Radiographics. 2006;26:1469–84.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. American College of Radiology. Breast imaging reporting and data system (BI-RADS). 4th ed. Reston: American College of Radiology; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Schrading S, Kuhl CK. Mammographic, US, and MR imaging phenotypes of familial breast cancer. Radiology. 2008;246:58–70.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Teifke A, Behr O, Schmidt M, et al. Dynamic MR imaging of breast lesions: correlation with microvessel distribution pattern and histologic characteristics of prognosis. Radiology. 2006;239:351–60.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takayoshi Uematsu.

About this article

Cite this article

Uematsu, T. MR imaging of triple-negative breast cancer. Breast Cancer 18, 161–164 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-010-0236-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-010-0236-3

Keywords

Navigation