Malignant Lesions Research Articles

A Review of Endobronchial-Ultrasound-Guided Transbronchial Intranodal Forceps Biopsy and Cryobiopsy.

Benign and malignant mediastinal lesions are not infrequently encountered in clinical practice. Mediastinoscopy has long been considered the gold standard in evaluating mediastinal pathology. Since its introduction into clinical practice, endobronchial-ultrasonography-guided transbronchial fine needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) has replaced mediastinoscopy as the initial procedure of choice to evaluate mediastinal lesions and to stage lung cancer. Its diagnostic yield in benign mediastinal lesions and less common malignancies, however, has remained limited. This has led different proceduralists to investigate additional procedures to improve the diagnostic yield of EBUS-TBNA. In recent years, different published reports concluded that the addition of EBUS-guided intranodal forceps biopsy (IFB) and transbronchial cryobiopsy (TBCB) to EBUS-TBNA increases the diagnostic yield especially in benign mediastinal lesions and uncommon mediastinal malignancies. The purpose of this review is to describe how EBUS-IFB and EBUS-TBCB are performed, to compare their diagnostic yields, and to discuss their limitations and their potential complications. In addition, the review will conclude with a proposed algorithm on how to incorporate EBUS-IFB and EBUS-TBCB into clinical practice.

A Rare Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor of the Spleen: A Case Report.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IMTs) are rare, solid, potentially malignant lesions of uncertain etiology. Histologically, IMTs exhibit a combination of lymphocytes and inflammatory cells within a fibroblastic myxoid layer. The diagnosis of IMTs poses a challenge for various medical specialties, including surgeons, pathologists, and oncologists, due to their non-specific clinical presentation. Furthermore, radiologists face difficulties in interpreting computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results, which often yield polymorphic and inconclusive findings. Ultimately, histopathologists play a crucial role in reaching a definitive diagnosis based on the tumor's histological characteristics. They are detected in every system of the human body, most commonly in the lungs. Here, we report an uncommon occurrence of IMT in the spleen of a patient with nonspecific abdominal pain. A 56-year-old Caucasian female presented to Konstantopouleio General Hospital of Nea Ionia, Athens, Greece, with abdominal pain and discomfort. The patient had no significant medical history and normal laboratory tests. An abdominal CT revealed a large mass in the spleen. A splenectomy was performed. Histopathological analysis of the tumor revealed IMTS. Splenic IMT is a rare benign tumor with moderate malignant potential. It lacks a distinct clinical presentation and is typically identified either incidentally or during the examination of abdominal pain.

Explainable DCNN Decision Framework for Breast Lesion Classification from Ultrasound Images Based on Cancer Characteristics.

In recent years, deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have shown promising performance in medical image analysis, including breast lesion classification in 2D ultrasound (US) images. Despite the outstanding performance of DCNN solutions, explaining their decisions remains an open investigation. Yet, the explainability of DCNN models has become essential for healthcare systems to accept and trust the models. This paper presents a novel framework for explaining DCNN classification decisions of lesions in ultrasound images using the saliency maps linking the DCNN decisions to known cancer characteristics in the medical domain. The proposed framework consists of three main phases. First, DCNN models for classification in ultrasound images are built. Next, selected methods for visualization are applied to obtain saliency maps on the input images of the DCNN models. In the final phase, the visualization outputs and domain-known cancer characteristics are mapped. The paper then demonstrates the use of the framework for breast lesion classification from ultrasound images. We first follow the transfer learning approach and build two DCNN models. We then analyze the visualization outputs of the trained DCNN models using the EGrad-CAM and Ablation-CAM methods. We map the DCNN model decisions of benign and malignant lesions through the visualization outputs to the characteristics such as echogenicity, calcification, shape, and margin. A retrospective dataset of 1298 US images collected from different hospitals is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the framework. The test results show that these characteristics contribute differently to the benign and malignant lesions' decisions. Our study provides the foundation for other researchers to explain the DCNN classification decisions of other cancer types.

Non-mass enhancement on breast MRI: Clues to a more confident diagnosis

BackgroundNon-mass enhancement (NME) seen on dynamic contrast enhanced breast MRI (DCE-MRI) may be caused by benign, high risk or malignant lesions. Making a clear distinction between these lesions is challenging due to the significant overlap in their imaging appearance. Our study aims to assess the various patterns of distribution, internal enhancement patterns (IEPs) and kinetics of NME using the BI-RADS lexicon fifth edition with histopathologic correlation to aid in making a more confident recommendation regarding clinical management.ResultsSixty-six female patients with NME on DCE-MRI were included. Thirty-four lesions (51.5%) were histopathologically proven to be benign and 32 (48.5%) were malignant. Segmental distribution was the most common pattern and was found in 22 cases (33.3%), 14 of them were malignant with p-value < 0.05. Linear distribution was reported in 14 cases, (21.2%), five of which were malignant, with p-value > 0.05. Thirteen cases (19.7%) had focal distribution, only two of them were malignant with p-value < 0.05. Twelve cases (18.2%) were of regional distribution, seven of which were malignant. Multiregional and diffuse distribution were the least common and were found in 3% and 4.5% of cases respectively. As for the enhancement pattern, 30 cases (45.5%) had heterogeneous enhancement. Nineteen of which were malignant with a p-value < 0.05. Clumped enhancement was found in 24 cases (36.4%); 12 cases were found to be malignant. Nine cases (13.6%) were of homogeneous enhancement, all of them were benign and three cases (4.5%) were of clustered ring enhancement with p-value > 0.05. Restricted diffusion value was detected in 75% of malignant cases with p-value < 0.05. In terms of kinetic curve, the most frequent curve was found to be type II plateau curve (26 cases, 39.4%), 15 cases were of benign pathology and the other 11 cases were proven to be malignant. Followed by type III washout curve which was detected in 25 cases (37.9%), 20 cases were malignant and five cases were benign. And type I persistent curve was found in 15 cases (22.7%); 14 cases were histopathologically proven to be benign, and only one case was of malignant pathology, with a total p-value < 0.05.ConclusionsOur study found that the most common distribution pattern was segmental distribution, being statistically significant with p-value < 0.05, being more common among malignant lesions. As for the enhancement pattern, heterogeneous enhancement was the most common pattern, mainly detected in malignant lesions, with p-value < 0.05. The most common type of kinetic curve was type II curve.

The value of elastography strain rate ratio in benign and malignant BI-RADS-US 3-4 breast masses.

In the realm of breast diagnostics, Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) serves as a systematic framework, guiding a methodical exploration into the nuanced narratives of masses. The current study aims to investigate the value of strain rate ratio (SR) of elastography for benign and malignant breast masses categorized by BI-RADS for Ultrasonography (BI-RADS-US) category 3-4. Ultrasonographic data of 1099 breast masses that underwent both elastography and pathological examination were retrospectively analyzed by non-parametric test, consistency analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve sequentially. ROC curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic effect of SR method in different BI-RADS categories of breast lesions. The maximum Youden index obtained from the ROC curve was 0.845. At a cut-off value of 3.57, the SR values' diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for distinguishing benign and malignant breast lesions were 85.7 %, 98.8 %, 93.6 %, 97.9 % and 91.45 %, respectively. Consistency analysis showed that the consistency between SR value and pathological diagnosis was 93.6 % (κ = 0.864). In addition, the SR values between benign and malignant lesions of BI-RADS 3 and 4 were statistically different (P < 0.001). ROC analysis indicated that the diagnostic area under curve (AUC) for SR value in BI-RADS 3, 4a, 4b and 4c lesions were 0.985, 0.866, 0.793 and 0.916, respectively. In addition, the study observed 58 cases of missed diagnosis and 20 cases of misdiagnosis in evaluating benign and malignant breast lesions. The elastic SR ratio method has a good diagnostic value for the evaluation of breast masses, particularly for lesions with a score of 3-4. The elastic SR ratio method is instrumental in enhancing the accuracy of diagnosis.

Abstract PO2-07-08: The efficacy of an MRI/US fusion technique for MRI-detected lesions previously undetected by conventional B-mode second-look US

Abstract Introduction Breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is performed for preoperative screening of breast cancer and surveillance of BRCA gene carriers, and some lesions, called MRI-detected lesions, can only be detected by MRI. When MRI-detected lesions are found, second-look ultrasound (US) is recommended as the first choice for confirmation. However, the detection of MRI-detected lesions by conventional B-mode (cB-mode) second-look US varies from institution to institution, and it is often difficult to ensure objectivity and reproducibility. We use an MRI/US fusion technique called real-time virtual sonography (RVS) for the detection of MRI-detected lesions. RVS uses a magnetic position tracking system to display real-time US images on the same monitor as MRI images. Few reports on second-look US using RVS have examined its detection rate of MRI-detected lesions and the histopathological results of these lesions. In this study, we retrospectively reviewed MRI-detected lesions identified by second-look US using RVS but not by cB-mode second-look US from January 2018 to December 2022, with the goal of evaluating these lesions’ pathological characteristics. Materials and methods Consecutive patients who had one or more MRI-detected lesions not detected by cB-mode second-look US were enrolled in this study between January 2018 and December 2021. Second-look US using RVS was conducted after an additional supine MRI with a body surface coil was performed. Results A total of 36 patients with 38 lesions were included in this study. The mean age was 54 years old (range: 31–76). We were able to detect 31 (82%) of the 39 MRI-detected lesions by second-look US using RVS. These lesions were characterized as follows: mass, 14; non-mass-enhancement (NME), 13; and focal, 4. US-guided biopsy or excisional biopsy was performed on all lesions, and 11 (35%) of 31 lesions were malignant. We were able to detect 14 (74%) of the 19 mass lesions, and 3 were malignant (invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) [luminal A type] in all 3 cases). We detected 13 (93%) of the 14 NME lesions, and 7 were malignant: 6 were ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (high grade, 3; intermediate grade, 2; and low grade, 1), and 1 was IDC (luminal A type). Finally, we were able to detect 4 (80%) of the 5 focal lesions, 1 of which was malignant (DCIS [low grade]). Of 22 patients aged 55 years or younger, 3 had malignant lesions (IDC [luminal A type] in 2, DCIS [high grade] in 1). Of 15 patients aged 56 years or older, 8 had malignant lesions (DCIS in 7 [high grade, 2; intermediate grade, 2; low grade, 1] and IDC [luminal A type] in 1). Conclusions In this study, second-look US using RVS identified 82% of MRI-detected lesions that were not identified with cB-mode second-look US. Of these MRI-detected lesions, 35% were malignant. These results suggest that second-look US using RVS is useful for identifying MRI-detected lesions that are not detected by cB-mode second-look US. Citation Format: Masayuki Saito, Hirona Banno, Yukie Ito, Mirai Ido, Manami Goto, Takahito Ando, Yukako Mouri, Junko Kousaka, Kmihito Fujii, Tsuneo Imai, Shogo Nakano. The efficacy of an MRI/US fusion technique for MRI-detected lesions previously undetected by conventional B-mode second-look US [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO2-07-08.

Abstract PO5-07-09: ACCURACY OF STEREOTACTIC VACCUM-ASSISTED BREAST BIOPSY FOR INVESTIGATING SUSPICIOUS CALCIFICATIONS IN 2,021 PATIENTS A PUBLIC HOSPITAL IN BRAZIL

Abstract Backgroud: the gold standard for breast biopsy procedures is currently an open excision of the suspected lesion. The cost and morbidity associated with this procedure has prompted many physicians to evaluate less invasive, alternative procedures. More recently, image-guided percutaneous core-needle biopsy has become a frequently used method for diagnosing palpable and non-palpable breast lesions. Although sensitivity rates for core-needle biopsy are high, it has the disadvantage of histological underestimation. Vacuum-assisted stereotactic biopsy (VASB) was developed to overcome some of these negative aspects of core-needle biopsy. Objectives: to evaluate the accuracy of vacuum-assisted stereotactic biopsy (VASB) in the investigation of non palpable suspicious calcifications. Methods: it was a retrospective study from July 2012 to December 2020, in which 2,021 women with suspicious calcifications detected on mammography (BI-RADS 4 and 5) had VASB performed at Hospital Estadual Pérola Byington, São Paulo, Brazil. Fragments were obtained and sent to anatomopathological study; a metal clip was placed on the biopsy site. Four groups were analyzed, based on the biopsy results: benign, precursor lesions, Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) and Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (ICD). Results: patients median age was 55y (49-63y). Pathology results on VASB were classified respectively as benign n=1,340 (66.3%), precursor lesions n=84 (4.1%), DCIS n=441 (21.8%) and ICD n=156 (7.7%). The 60 patients with results benign on VASB, because anatomopathological disagreement, surgery was performed, with the following results: benign n=30 (50%), ICD e DCIS n=21 (35%) e precursor lesions n=9 (15%). The sensitivity of the method was 91.7 %, specificity was 97.1%, false negative rate was 3%, positive predictive value was 92.4%, negative predictive value was 96.9%. Conclusion: the VASB method has a good accuracy to distinguish lower and higher risk lesions groups comparing to the gold standard. It has high predictive value in both benign and malignant lesions, guiding therapeutic planning. Keywords: Calcifications; Vacuum-assisted stereotactic biopsy; Breast cancer; Diagnosis. Citation Format: Andressa Amorim, Andre Mattar, Marcelo Antonini, Reginaldo Coelho Lopes, Luciana Damous, Luiz Henrique Gebrim, Marina Diogenes, Marcellus Ramos. ACCURACY OF STEREOTACTIC VACCUM-ASSISTED BREAST BIOPSY FOR INVESTIGATING SUSPICIOUS CALCIFICATIONS IN 2,021 PATIENTS A PUBLIC HOSPITAL IN BRAZIL [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO5-07-09.

A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study on the Histopathology of Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Endoscopic Biopsy in Dyspeptic Patients.

Background Dyspepsia is one of the most common GI complaints encountered in clinical practice. Histopathological assessment of endoscopic gastric mucosa biopsy is crucial to delineate the exact cause of dyspepsia to guide patients' management. Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the histopathological spectrum of upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract endoscopic biopsies and to study the age and sex distribution of the predominant upper GI lesions. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India, from January 2022 to December 2023. All endoscopic mucosal biopsies of the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum (first and second parts) lesions were examined under a microscope for histopathological findings. Results Out of 250 endoscopic biopsies studied, there were 76 cases of esophageal biopsies, 149 cases of gastric biopsies, and 25 cases of duodenal biopsies. The male-to-female ratio was 1.2:1. Non-neoplastic lesions were more common than neoplastic lesions. The most common lesions encountered were esophagitis in the esophagus, gastritis in the stomach, and duodenitis in the duodenum. Conclusion The main organic cause of dyspepsia in our setting was chronic gastritis. We conclude that endoscopy of the upper GI tract and histopathological examination help in the earlier detection of both benign and malignant lesions. This aids in better timely management of the patients and improves the overall treatment provided resulting in a better prognosis.

Abstract PS05-06: Outcomes of Surveillance using Contrast Enhanced Mammography in Women with a Personal History of Breast Cancer

Abstract Background Women with a personal history of breast cancer (PHBC) have a high rate of subsequent breast malignancy. Annual mammography with selective ultrasound has been the standard method of surveillance after breast cancer for many years, aiming for early detection, treatment and improved survival. In surveillance populations, interval cancers, which can account for ~30% of subsequent breast cancers, are more likely to be larger, hormone receptor negative and lymph node positive than cancers detected by surveillance (Lee et al, Radiology 2021). Interval cancer rates of 3.6 per 1000 mammographic screens have been reported previously in women with PHBC (Houssami et al, JAMA 2011). For women with PHBC a more sensitive surveillance approach may be justified, noting mammography has lower program sensitivity in PHBC surveillance than in screening. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used selectively but with resource and access limitations. Contrast enhanced mammography (CEM) offers a more sensitive modality than conventional mammography with specificity comparable to MRI, but its utility for surveillance is uncertain. Methods Retrospective study of 1,190 women with PHBC who commenced annual CEM surveillance in an Australian hospital setting between June 2016 and December 2022 (Elder et al, Breast Cancer Res Treat 2023) combining outcomes of initial CEM and any subsequent surveillance imaging over that period, including incident surveillance-detected cancers and interval cancers (cancers diagnosed in the year following a negative surveillance episode), recalls for assessment, the contribution of contrast to recall, and pathology and treatment details for cancer diagnoses. Outcomes were reported using descriptive statistics and hazards modelling. Results There were 3,784 episodes for analysis: 1,190 first CEM surveillance episodes, and 2,594 subsequent surveillance episodes of which &amp;gt;90% were contrast based imaging. 79% of women had at least three annual rounds of surveillance imaging. 186 cases from the total 3784 surveillance episodes were recalled for assessment (recall rate 4.9%). 72 (39%) recalled cases identified malignant lesions (true positives (TP)), with 50 invasive cancers and 22 cases of DCIS. 114 (61%) recalled cases were false positives (FP). 51% of cases were only recalled due to contrast and 35% of these were TP. Invasive cancers were predominantly stage 1 (64%) or stage 2 (32%) and most were grade 2 (44%) or grade 3 (47%). The median invasive cancer size was 16mm (IQR 9-25mm). 62% of invasive cancers were hormone receptor positive HER2 negative, and 24% were triple negative. The median DCIS size was 19mm (IQR 10-26mm) with only a single low grade case. 40% of invasive cancers and 59% of DCIS were recalled due to contrast. Comparison of tumour features indicates similarities between contrast-directed recalls and other diagnoses; conclusive findings would require a larger sample. Five interval cancers were identified, of which three were asymptomatic and detected on surveillance imaging scheduled early for other reasons. Thus, the rate of symptomatic interval cancers was 0.8 per 1000 screens (program sensitivity 96.0%). Surveillance-detected cancer rates differed significantly by index cancer subtype (χ2=11.9, p=0.0026), with highest rates for women with triple negative index cancers. Incidence cancer rates were higher among the 6.9% of women with moderate or marked BPE at first CEM surveillance episode (χ2=8.8, p=0.032), but did not differ significantly by age group (χ2=5.2, p=0.39) nor breast density (χ2=4.7, p=0.19). Conclusions Routine use of CEM in annual surveillance of women with PHBC led to 1.85-fold increase in the detection of clinically significant malignant lesions, with lower interval cancer rates than previous published series of women with PHBC. CEM appears to increase the sensitivity of surveillance programs for women with PHBC, improving on imaging without contrast. Citation Format: Julia Matheson, Carolyn Nickson, Kenneth Elder, Allan Park, Allison Rose, Bruce Mann. Outcomes of Surveillance using Contrast Enhanced Mammography in Women with a Personal History of Breast Cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PS05-06.

Abstract PO5-07-08: A Serum Biomarker for the Early Detection of Breast cancer

Abstract Background: After decades of use, clinicians and medical societies are still debating on the clinical utility of mammography, the standard of care for breast cancer (BC) screening, because of its limitations such as subjective visual interpretation, high rate of false-positive and false-negative (in dense breast) and concerns over radiation exposure. There are 55 million women, and about 45% of them considered dense breast, in need of an accurate, easy to use test for the screening of BC regardless of breast tissue complexities to differentiate between BC and benign findings such as calcification and fibrosis. To this date there is no blood protein biomarker (BM) in clinical use for the early detection of BC. We have developed a novel BC specific protein biomarker -based blood test to detect patients with early-stage BC and established herein the diagnostic performance of our BM in discriminating BC patients from healthy individuals and benign breast cases. Methods: A total of 433 serum samples (318 primary BC, 32 benign breast and 83 normal breast) were obtained from the Cooperative Human Tissue Network and from the IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana Research Center (blind samples). 247 BC samples were provided as blind samples and were used to validate the screening utility. Serum samples were tested with our BC specific BM by sandwich ELISA. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated to evaluate the diagnostic performance, by determining sensitivity (SE), specificity (SP), area under the curve (AUC), and confidence interval (CI). Statistical analysis, ROC curves and scatter plots were performed with GraphPad Prism 7.0. Results: BM elevation in early cancer cases (stage I-II, Ductal Carcinoma) was found to be statistically significant (p&amp;lt; 0.0001) as compared to healthy and benign cases. Our test discriminated early BC patients from non-cancer cases with 87.3% SE at 85.2% SP and was further validated in a blind set including 247 BC (Ductal &amp; Lobular Carcinoma, stage I-III), 30 benign and 83 normal breast cases (88%SE, 86%SP). The sensitivity for early-stage (I-II) and late stage (III) BC was 86.8% and 94.3%, respectively. While lobular carcinoma is particularly not well detected by mammography with a sensitivity as low as 57% and much lower for women with dense breast, it was detected with high sensitivity (90%) in our test. 80% of fibrocystic changes (FCC), the most common form of benign breast disease in women over 50 years of age were negative with our test. Although it is a benign condition, FCC may be misdiagnosed as a malignant lesion by physical examination and imaging. Conclusion: Our results support the utility of our blood-based test for the early detection of breast cancer which presents improved features over mammography such as higher lobular cancer sensitivity, lower detection rate of common form of benign condition often misdiagnosed by imaging, absence of radiation and expected high compliance. Further testing is needed to confirm accuracy of our test in the dense breast population. Citation Format: Christine Chavany, Jeffrey Dea, Monica Guevara, Rafael Hernandez-Gonzalez, Patrizia Ferroni, Fiorella Guadagni, Rosaura Valle, Moncef Jendoubi. A Serum Biomarker for the Early Detection of Breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO5-07-08.

Abstract PO5-19-11: A novel portable breast cancer screening method - initial institutional experience

Abstract Background: Breast ultrasound (US) is a remarkable supplementary tool alongside mammography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the detection of breast lesions. US imaging is a fast, reliable method to identify and localize breast pathology. Innovative technologies that aim to timely identification and prompt diagnosis of suspicious lesions in breast cancer screening remain a clinical need. ATUSA is a B-type rechargeable US, shaped as a wearable device. It uses a linear array of transducers with water acting as a coupling medium that recreates a 3-dimensional image of the scanned breast. The ATUSA portability makes this device a practical breast screening method during a healthcare office visit. We report the initial feasibility of ATUSA to detect breast lesions in an outpatient setting from a trial in progress. Methodology: Interim prospective data from 35 female patients presenting with a mass of equal or greater than 1 cm in size, with a baseline handheld US image and pathology reports that evidenced a cancer diagnosis or a lesion suspicious of malignancy. Breast cancer types included invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), invasive mammary carcinoma (IMC) with mixed ductal and lobular features and atypical lobular hyperplasia (ALH). ATUSA and baseline handheld reference US images were cross-referenced from June 2022 to June 2023. Basic demographics, clinical characteristics, mammogram and/or MRI, and pathology reports were included in the analysis. Patients were followed up for a 30-day period to note occurrence of any adverse event (AE). Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved this study (protocol H-42616). Results: The 35 patients had a mean age of 57 years (range: 25 – 79), mean BMI 29.6 kg/m2 (range: 18.1 – 49.3). Mammographic breast density was fibroglandular tissue 15 (42.8%), followed by heterogeneously dense (HD) 13 (3.7%), mixed HD and fibroglandular 1 (2.8%), mildly dense 1 (2.8%), extremely dense 2 (5.7%), and extremely fatty 1 (2.8%). Breast sizes were 1 (2.8 %) A cup, 11 (31.4%) B cups, 1 (2.8%) B – C cups, 5 (14.2%) C cups, 1 (2.8%) C – D cups, 13 (37.1%) D cups, and 3 (8.5%) DD cups. The 35 scanned lesions had a diagnosis (compared with final resected pathology) classified as IDC 18 (51.4 %), DCIS 2 (5.7 %), mixed IDC and DCIS 6 (17.1 %), ILC 3 (8.5 %), IMC with mixed features 2 (5.7 %), IMC with DCIS 1 (2.8 %), ALH 1 (2.8 %), and 2 (5.7 %) benign masses. ATUSA successfully identified 17/35 (48.5 %) lesions from this group as malignant, from which 4 were hard to distinguish due to shadowing artifact and 3 were underestimated in size. A total of 15 (42.8 %) malignant lesions were missed by ATUSA. No AEs related to the ATUSA device were reported. Conclusion: The ATUSA provides the means to produce a good quality US image during a clinic visit or where a facility lacks conventional US imaging. When compared to the handheld US, ATUSA can be safely used in the outpatient setting without the need of trained specialists but requires further development and testing to match conventional breast imaging. Table 1. Basic clinical characteristics &amp; demographics Citation Format: Margarita Riojas-Barrett, Jessica Montalvan, Mary Bajomo, Ivan Marin, Quan Dang Nguyen, Karla A Sepulveda, Elizabeth Bonefas, Alastair Thompson, Stacey Carter. A novel portable breast cancer screening method - initial institutional experience [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO5-19-11.

Abstract PO4-18-12: MELODY: A prospective non-interventional multicenter cohort study to evaluate different imaging-guided methods for localization of malignant breast lesions (EUBREAST-4/iBRA-NET, NCT 05559411)

Abstract Background: In the last decades, the proportion of breast cancer patients receiving breast-conserving surgery has increased, reaching 70-80% in developed countries. In case of non-palpable lesions, surgical excision requires some form of breast localization. While wire-guided localization has long been considered gold standard, it carries several limitations, including logistical difficulties, the potential for displacement and patient discomfort, and re-excision rates reaching 21%. Other techniques (radioactive seed or radio-occult lesion localization, intraoperative ultrasound, magnetic, radiofrequency and radar localization) have been developed with the aim of overcoming these disadvantages. However, comparative data on the rates of successful lesion removal, negative margins and re-operations are limited. In the majority of studies, the patient’s perspective with regard to discomfort and pain level has not been evaluated. The aim of MELODY (MEthods for LOcalization of Different types of breast lesions) is to evaluate different imaging-guided localization methods with regard to oncological safety, patient-reported outcomes, and surgeon and radiologist satisfaction. Methods: The EUBREAST and the iBRA-NET have initiated the MELODY study to assess breast localization techniques and devices from several perspectives (NCT05559411, http://melody.eubreast.com). MELODY is a prospective intergroup cohort study which enrolls female and male pts. requiring breast-conserving surgery and imaging-guided localization for invasive breast cancer or DCIS. Multiple or bilateral lesions and neoadjuvant chemotherapy are allowed. Primary outcomes are: 1) Intended target lesion and/or marker removal, independent of margin status on final histopathology, and 2) Negative resection margin rates at first surgery. Secondary outcomes are, among others: rates of second surgery and secondary mastectomy, Resection Ratio (defined as actual resection volume divided by the calculated optimum specimen volume), duration of surgery, marker dislocation rates, rates of marker placement or localization failure, comparison of patient-reported outcomes, rates of “lost markers” and diagnostician/radiologist’s and surgeon’s satisfaction as well as the health economic evaluation of the different techniques. Target accrual: 7,416 patients. Enrollment started in January 2023. The study will be conducted in 30 countries and is supported by the Oncoplastic Breast Consortium (OPBC), AWOgyn, AGO-B and SENATURK. Financial support will be provided by Endomag, Merit Medical, Sirius Medical and Hologic. Citation Format: Maggie Banys-Paluchowski, Thorsten Kühn, Yazan Masannat, Nina Ditsch, Antonio Esgueva, Neslihan Cabıoğlu, Dawid Murawa, Nuh Zafer Canturk, Isabel Rubio, Jana de Boniface, Andreas Karakatsanis, Rajiv Dave, Shelley Potter, Ashutosh Kothari, Oreste Davide Gentilini, Walter Weber, Natalia Krawczyk, Steffi Hartmann, Guldeniz Karadeniz Cakmak, Markus Hahn, Michael P. Lux, Tove Tvedskov, Lina Pankratjevaite, Michalis Kontos, Florentia Peintinger, Aoife Lowery, Marjolein Smidt, Lia Rebaza, Maria Vasconcelos, Bahadir M. Gulluoglu, Bilge Aktas Sezen, Rosa Di Micco, Sarah Nietz, Francois Malherbe, Maria Luisa Gasparri, Séverine Alran, SVS Deo, Mah Muneer Khan, James Harvey. MELODY: A prospective non-interventional multicenter cohort study to evaluate different imaging-guided methods for localization of malignant breast lesions (EUBREAST-4/iBRA-NET, NCT 05559411) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO4-18-12.

Abstract PO4-07-09: CONTRAST-ENHANCED MAMMOGRAPHY IN LOCAL STAGING OF SCREEN-DETECTED BREAST CANCER: ADDITIONAL LESIONS AND CHANGES TO CLINICAL MANAGEMENT

Abstract Background BreastScreen Australia, a mammographic population screening program, provides assessment of suspected breast cancer to the point of diagnosis using a combination of conventional imaging and percutaneous biopsy. Comprehensive local staging, not performed at BreastScreen, determines the extent of disease and may identify additional clinically significant breast abnormalities. Local staging options include completion of bilateral mammographic work-up, ultrasound, and/or contrast-based imaging (CBI) (magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM)), with biopsy as required. We introduced CBI for local staging after diagnosis of screen-detected cancer at our academic hospital breast service in Melbourne, Australia. We report diagnostic findings for otherwise occult disease and their impact on treatment decisions in women who underwent CEM for local staging. Material and methods Women with screen-detected breast cancer who underwent CEM for local staging between November 2018 to April 2022 were identified retrospectively. The reporting breast-specialised radiologist compared BreastScreen and CEM images to identify additional enhancing abnormalities. Additional abnormalities were further investigated with preoperative percutaneous biopsy, surgical biopsy, or problem-solving CBI. Additional CEM-detected abnormalities were documented, with invasive cancer or DCIS recorded as true positive (TP) and any other findings as false positive (FP). Impact on surgical decisions was assessed. Results 204 patients underwent CEM. 62/204 (30%) patients had 76 additional abnormalities, of which 36 (47%) were TP and 40 (53%) FP. CEM identified otherwise occult malignant lesions in 30/204 (15%) patients. TPs comprised 75% invasive cancers and 25% DCIS. 83% (30/36) of malignant abnormalities were ipsilateral to the index lesion, while 17% (6/36) were contralateral. The majority of additional invasive cancers were Grade 2 (20/27, 74.1%), followed by Grade 1 (4/27, 14.8%) then Grade 3 (3/27, 11.1%). All additional invasive cancers had the same phenotype as the patient’s index cancer (ER+/HER2-), except for one abnormality which was ER+/HER2+ where the index cancer was ER+/HER2-. The FP abnormalities consisted of normal breast tissue (20/40, 50%), benign lesions (16/40, 40%) and atypical proliferative lesions (4/40, 10%). Occult malignancies were more common for patients with higher background parenchymal enhancement (20% for moderate/marked vs 4% for minimal/mild, p=0.0023), with no statistically significant differences found by breast density (BIRADS A or B = 12%, vs BIRADS C or D = 20%, p=0.23) or by age (40-49=38%, 50-59=13%, 60-69=13%, ³70=19%, p=0.88). Additional abnormalities found on CEM resulted in surgical management change in 45/204 (22%) patients, including wider resection (24/45), conversion to mastectomy (8/45), contralateral breast surgery (6/45), additional ipsilateral excision (5/45), and bracketing (2/45). Conclusions The use of CEM for local staging of screen-detected breast cancers identified otherwise occult malignancy in 15% of patients. Age and mammographic density did not identify groups at minimal risk of additional findings. Pathology of additional malignancy suggests it is clinically significant. CEM may improve local staging and direct appropriate management of screen-detected breast cancers. Citation Format: Caroline MacCallum, Kenneth Elder, Carolyn Nickson, Kelly Ruecker, Allan Park, Bruce Mann. CONTRAST-ENHANCED MAMMOGRAPHY IN LOCAL STAGING OF SCREEN-DETECTED BREAST CANCER: ADDITIONAL LESIONS AND CHANGES TO CLINICAL MANAGEMENT [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO4-07-09.

Abstract PO3-13-08: D17104: Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Signaling and Other Biomarkers of Fat Metabolism in Human Mammary Adipose Tissue from Women with Malignant Breast Disease

Abstract Background: Obesity is a recognized risk factor for the development of metabolic disease and breast cancer possibly due to chronic inflammation mediated by cytokines secreted by adipose tissue. Given this, our group examined differential expression of several markers of chronic inflammation in adipose tissue of both benign and malignant breast tissue from patients. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is an important cytosolic, ligand-dependent transcription factor found within hepatocytes and adipocytes that is upregulated in many types of cancer. AhR promotes the initiation, progression, and metastasis of cancer cells allowing certain cancers to evade immune recognition (Xue et al. Front. Immunology 2018). Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) is an enzyme that generates kynurenine (KYN) from tryptophan (TRP), which acts as an AhR agonist. We sought to determine expression of IDO1 via immunohistochemistry (IHC) in mammary adipose tissue associated with benign or malignant breast. We hypothesized that adipose tissue adjacent to malignant breast tissue may have heightened expression of IDO1 in addition to Cyp1b1, and SPP1; both of which are also markers of increased aryl-hydrocarbon transcriptional activity, compared to adipose tissue noncontiguous to malignant lesions. KYN affects gene expression for insulin resistance and levels are elevated in plasma of older obese women compared to lean women; however, the relationship to breast malignancy is not known. Methods: IDO1 (Cell Signaling, 1:200), Cyp1b1 (Thermo Fisher, 1:300), and SPP1 (Thermo Fisher, 1:200) IHC was performed according to the manufacturers' protocols. Adipose tissue immediately adjacent to, and &amp;gt;2 mm away from, tumors (three DCIS, 11 invasive carcinomas) was evaluated in 14 patients. Adipose tissue in separate tissue blocks from benign breast tissue (three ipsilateral, 11 contralateral) in the same patients was also evaluated. Human plasma KYN levels were assayed by HPLC in the Dartmouth Clinical Pharmacology Shared Resource as described previously (Rojas et al. Obesity 2021). Results: In this preliminary pilot study, there was no difference in staining pattern for IDO1 in adipose tissue present in malignant and benign samples. Two patients showed increased Cyp1b1 and SPP1 staining immediately adjacent to the invasive carcinoma (Figure 1). Patients with benign breast disease did not show increased Cyp1b1 or SPP1 staining. Results will be confirmed using qPCR for mRNA. Plasma samples from patients with benign disease showed a lower level of KYN expression on average (0.370 ug/mL, N = 8) compared to plasma from patients with malignant disease (0.424, N = 10). Additionally, the ratio of KYN:TRP was lower in the benign group (0.065) compared to the cohort with malignancy (0.080). Univariate linear regression will be used to further assess relationships between continuous variables in the study population (e.g., patient age, BMI, KYN plasma levels, benign vs malignant breast disease). Regression lines and the associated slope estimates (b-value) and p-values for regression models will be provided on scatter plots. Conclusions: While there was no difference in IDO1 staining patterns in adipose tissue of malignant and benign samples in this group, tissue samples from patients with invasive carcinoma demonstrated increased Cyp1b1 and SPP1 staining adjacent to the malignant tumor; while benign tissue samples did not show a positive stain. This suggests increased aryl-hydrocarbon transcriptional activity in invasive breast carcinoma—further linking AhR signaling with adipose tissue immune dysregulation and invasive malignancy. Additionally, KYN plasma levels were higher in patients with malignant disease indicating a possible relationship between insulin resistance and breast malignancy. Additional research may offer new insights relating to this important pathway and ultimately treatments aimed at blunting its nefarious effects. Citation Format: Adam Ephraim, Jonathan Pirruccello, Scott Palisoul, Jonathan Marotti, Mary Chamberlin. D17104: Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Signaling and Other Biomarkers of Fat Metabolism in Human Mammary Adipose Tissue from Women with Malignant Breast Disease [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO3-13-08.

Abstract PO5-27-11: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DIAGNOSTICS MADE BY FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION (FNA) BIOPSY VERSUS TRU-CUT FOR BREAST PATHOLOGY IN A ONE STOP CLINIC PROGRAM IN MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA

Abstract Breast cancer is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among women in Colombia due to non-communicable chronic diseases. This has prompted health insurance companies to develop innovative initiatives to mitigate these negative outcomes. Since September 2018, Ayudas Diagnósticas SURA, in alliance with the Gustave Roussy Hospital and General Electric Healthcare has promoted a “One-stop clinic” program called: “TIEMPO PARA TI”. One of the primary challenges was to demonstrate that breast cytology, based on the Yokohama guidelines approved by The International Academy of Cytology has a high sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy. The Yokohama system for classifying breast cytology is comprised of five categories: C1 not satisfactory, C2 benign, C3 atypical, C4 malignancy suspected, and C5 malignant. From September 2018 to December 2022, consecutive patients referred for breast biopsy and suspected of having breast cancer underwent triple assessment of breast tumor and were included in this retrospective study. Descriptive analysis was made using STATA v17 software to compare fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy versus Tru-cut. A total of 14,501 patients were included, 14.398 FNA and 14.401 trucut biopsies were performed. The comparative analysis showed a 99% concordance between categories 2, which correspond to benign lesions and 96.7% between categories 5, which correspond to malignant lesions. Our findings demonstrate that a well-executed FNA biopsy is not inferior to a trucut biopsy, as revealed by the Yokohama system, and offers significant advantages, such as cost-effectiveness and prompt diagnosis. Both techniques should be used with caution, considering their advantages and disadvantages. Citation Format: Sara Gil, Carlos Agudelo, Jorge Castaño, Melissa Naranjo, Clara Piedrahita, Daniel Wilches, Kelly Corredor. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DIAGNOSTICS MADE BY FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION (FNA) BIOPSY VERSUS TRU-CUT FOR BREAST PATHOLOGY IN A ONE STOP CLINIC PROGRAM IN MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO5-27-11.

Quantitative analysis of lung lesions using unenhanced chest computed tomography images.

Chest radiograph and computed tomography (CT) scans can accidentally reveal pulmonary nodules. Malignant and benign pulmonary nodules can be difficult to distinguish without specific imaging features, such as calcification, necrosis, and contrast enhancement. However, these lesions may exhibit different image texture characteristics which cannot be assessed visually. Thus, a computer-assisted quantitative method like histogram analysis (HA) of Hounsfield unit (HU) values can improve diagnostic accuracy, reducing the need for invasive biopsy. In this exploratory control study, nonenhanced chest CT images of 20 patients with benign (10) and cancerous (10) lesion were selected retrospectively. The appearances of benign and malignant lesions were very similar in chest CT images, and only pathology report was used to discriminate them. Free hand region of interest (ROI) was inserted inside the lesion for all slices of each lesion. Mean, minimum, maximum, and standard deviations of HU values were recorded and used to make HA. HA showed that the most malignant lesions have a mean HU value between 30 and 50, a maximum HU less than 150, and a minimum HU between -30 and 20. Lesions outside these ranges were mostly benign. Quantitative CT analysis may differentiate malignant from benign lesions without specific malignancy patterns on unenhanced chest CT image.

TransEBUS: The interpretation of endobronchial ultrasound image using hybrid transformer for differentiating malignant and benign mediastinal lesions

The purpose of this study is to establish a deep learning automatic assistance diagnosis system for benign and malignant classification of mediastinal lesions in endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) images. EBUS images are in the form of video and contain multiple imaging modes. Different imaging modes and different frames can reflect the different characteristics of lesions. Compared with previous studies, the proposed model can efficiently extract and integrate the spatiotemporal relationships between different modes and does not require manual selection of representative frames. In recent years, Vision Transformer has received much attention in the field of computer vision. Combined with convolutional neural networks, hybrid transformers can also perform well on small datasets. This study designed a novel deep learning architecture based on hybrid transformer called TransEBUS. By adding learnable parameters in the temporal dimension, TransEBUS was able to extract spatiotemporal features from insufficient data. In addition, we designed a two-stream module to integrate information from three different imaging modes of EBUS. Furthermore, we applied contrastive learning when training TransEBUS, enabling it to learn discriminative representation of benign and malignant mediastinal lesions. The results show that TransEBUS achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 82% and an area under the curve of 0.8812 in the test dataset, outperforming other methods. It also shows that several models can improve performance by incorporating two-stream module. Our proposed system has shown its potential to help physicians distinguishing benign and malignant mediastinal lesions, thereby ensuring the accuracy of EBUS examination.

Deep orthogonal multi-wavelength fusion for tomogram-free diagnosis in diffuse optical imaging

Novel portable diffuse optical tomography (DOT) devices for breast cancer lesions hold great promise for non-invasive, non-ionizing breast cancer screening. Critical to this capability is not just the identification of lesions but rather the complex problem of discriminating between malignant and benign lesions. To accurately reconstruct the highly heterogeneous tissue of a cancer lesion in healthy breast tissue using DOT, multiple wavelengths can be leveraged to maximize signal penetration while minimizing sensitivity to noise. However, these wavelength responses can overlap, capture common information, and correlate, potentially confounding reconstruction and downstream end tasks. We show that an orthogonal fusion loss regularizes multi-wavelength DOT leading to improved reconstruction and accuracy of end-to-end discrimination of malignant versus benign lesions. We further show that our raw-to-task model significantly reduces computational complexity without sacrificing accuracy, making it ideal for real-time throughput, desired in medical settings where handheld devices have severely restricted power budgets. Furthermore, our results indicate that image reconstruction is not necessary for unbiased classification of lesions with a balanced accuracy of 77% and 66% on the synthetic dataset and clinical dataset, respectively, using the raw-to-task model. Code is available at https://github.com/sfu-mial/FuseNet.

Artificial intelligence-based classification of breast lesion from contrast enhanced mammography: a multicenter study.

The authors aimed to establish an artificial intelligence (AI)-based method for preoperative diagnosis of breast lesions from contrast enhanced mammography (CEM) and to explore its biological mechanism. This retrospective study includes 1430 eligible patients who underwent CEM examination from June 2017 to July 2022 and were divided into a construction set (n=1101), an internal test set (n=196), and a pooled external test set (n=133). The AI model adopted RefineNet as a backbone network, and an attention sub-network, named convolutional block attention module (CBAM), was built upon the backbone for adaptive feature refinement. An XGBoost classifier was used to integrate the refined deep learning features with clinical characteristics to differentiate benign and malignant breast lesions. The authors further retrained the AI model to distinguish in situ and invasive carcinoma among breast cancer candidates. RNA-sequencing data from 12 patients were used to explore the underlying biological basis of the AI prediction. The AI model achieved an area under the curve of 0.932 in diagnosing benign and malignant breast lesions in the pooled external test set, better than the best-performing deep learning model, radiomics model, and radiologists. Moreover, the AI model has also achieved satisfactory results (an area under the curve from 0.788 to 0.824) for the diagnosis of in situ and invasive carcinoma in the test sets. Further, the biological basis exploration revealed that the high-risk group was associated with the pathways such as extracellular matrix organization. The AI model based on CEM and clinical characteristics had good predictive performance in the diagnosis of breast lesions.

Utility of EUS-Guided FNAC in the Diagnosis of Spindle Cell Lesion of the GI Tract: A Case Report

ABSTRACT Gastrointestinal (GI) tumors pose a diagnostic challenge due to their diverse histology and location. EUS was first used clinically in 1980. Since its inception, it has emerged as a valuable diagnostic tool for GI lesions, to a versatile therapeutic modality, encompassing a wide range of indications. EUS faces challenges in distinguishing benign from malignant lesions. The partnership between cytopathologists and endoscopists, coupled with rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE), has become crucial in patient management. Recent technical advancements along with the addition of FNAC have greatly increased its diagnostic accuracy. Endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (EUS-FNAC) has become a routine practice in many healthcare facilities, aiding in the diagnosis of mediastinal, GI, and pancreatic malignancies. EUS-FNAC offers several advantages, such as multi-site aspiration and lower cost as compared to other procedures. Even its potential in the area of molecular studies has been recently investigated. In this case study, a 45-year-old man who underwent EUS-FNAC is presented. The combination of histology, immunohistochemistry, and EUS-FNAC allowed us to make a conclusive diagnosis of GI stromal tumors (GIST).