10. Can MRI be used to determine pathological complete response following neo-adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer?

Abstract

into the first web-space of each foot followed by whole-body imaging. Scans were reported as abnormal if there was delay in lymph transport or re-routing through skin or deep system. Quantification was expressed as percentage injected activity accumulating in ilio-inguinal nodes. Results: Ilio-inguinal nodal accumulation at 150min was significantly lower in patients with BCRL compared to those without (2.7 2.5% versus 5.9 4.8%, p 1⁄4 0.006). Abnormal lower limb lymphoscintigraphy was observed in 17/30 patients. Of these, 10/15 patients had BCRL and 7/15 patients did not. None of the 24 control subjects had abnormal scans. Conclusion: BCRL patients showed reduced lower limb lymph drainage supporting the hypothesis of a predisposition to BCRL. A surprisingly high proportion of breast cancer patients also demonstrated lymphatic dysfunction despite clinically normal lower limbs. Possible explanations could be a systemic effect of breast cancer or its treatment or an unidentified association between breast cancer and lymphatic dysfunction.