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. 2011 Jan;29(1):91-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.mri.2010.07.009. Epub 2010 Sep 15.

Reduction of breast density following tamoxifen treatment evaluated by 3-D MRI: preliminary study

Jeon-Hor Chen  1 , Yeun-Chung Chang, Daniel Chang, Yi-Ting Wang, Ke Nie, Ruey-Feng Chang, Orhan Nalcioglu, Chiun-Sheng Huang, Min-Ying Su
Affiliations

Reduction of breast density following tamoxifen treatment evaluated by 3-D MRI: preliminary study

Jeon-Hor Chen et al. Magn Reson Imaging. 2011 Jan.

Abstract

This study analyzed the change in breast density in women receiving tamoxifen treatment using 3-D MRI. Sixteen women were studied. Each woman received breast MRI before and after tamoxifen. The breast and the fibroglandular tissue were segmented using a computer-assisted algorithm, based on T1-weighted images. The fibroglandular tissue volume (FV) and breast volume (BV) were measured and the ratio was calculated as the percent breast density (%BD). The changes in breast volume (ΔBV), fibroglandular tissue volume (ΔFV) and percent density (Δ%BD) between two MRI studies were analyzed and correlated with treatment duration and baseline breast density. The ΔFV showed a reduction in all 16 women. The Δ%BD showed a mean reduction of 5.8%. The reduction of FV was significantly correlated with baseline FV (P<.001) and treatment duration (P=.03). The percentage change in FV was correlated with duration (P=.049). The reduction in %BD was positively correlated with baseline %BD (P=.02). Women with higher baseline %BD showed more reduction of %BD. Three-dimensional MRI may be useful for the measurement of the small changes of ΔFV and Δ%BD after tamoxifen. These changes can potentially be used to correlate with the future reduction of cancer risk.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure 1A and 1B. The reduction of FV and square-root transformed FV was positively correlated with baseline FV and baseline square-root transformed FV, respectively.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure 1A and 1B. The reduction of FV and square-root transformed FV was positively correlated with baseline FV and baseline square-root transformed FV, respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Figure 2A and 2B. The percentage reduction in FV and square-root transformed FV was significantly correlated with the duration of treatment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Figure 2A and 2B. The percentage reduction in FV and square-root transformed FV was significantly correlated with the duration of treatment.
Figure 3
Figure 3
A 38 year-old woman with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer in the right breast had received breast conserving surgery prior to her tamoxifen treatment. The upper row was the baseline MR images of the left breast before the treatment. The lower row was the MR images 25 months after the treatment. The baseline fibroglandular tissue volume was 114.4ml and the follow-up was 66.6ml, with a reduction of 47.8ml (41.8%). The reduction of percent breast density was 8.4%.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Intra-operator variations on the measurement of the percent density in 3 different breast morphologies. The percent density variation is 2.2% for a 49 y/o Caucasian woman with fatty breast (left), 1.3% for a 49 y/o Asian with intermingled fat and fibroglandular tissue (middle), and 3.7% for a 33 y/o Asian with dense breast (right).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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