Motivation: DWI shows promise for early prediction of pathologic complete response (pCR), an important prognostic marker in neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) treatment. Goal(s): To compare the performance of conventional ADC and advanced DWI models in predicting pCR in an ongoing multicenter prospective trial. Approach: In 25 women undergoing NAC, MRI scans were performed at pre- and early-treatment (post 1-cycle) timepoints. Tumors were evaluated using IVIM, DKI, and RSI models, and compared with ADC. Results: Changes in ADC, IVIM, DKI, and RSI metrics predicted pCR at early-treatment with moderately-high AUCs (0.77-0.92), suggesting future potential utility in guiding breast cancer treatment. Impact: ADC and advanced DWI models demonstrate accurate early prediction of pathologic response in breast tumors undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Results support their potential as imaging biomarkers to help optimize breast cancer treatments in the future.
Biswas et al. (Tue,) studied this question.