Patterns of disease progression in patients with local and metastatic breast cancer as evaluated by whole-body magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND: Patterns of progressive disease (PD) in patients with local and metastatic sites of breast cancer are poorly described. Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) identifies PD earlier than CT. METHODS: Thirty-one patients receiving first-line systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) were studied. Data were obtained from original WB-MRI reports. RESULTS: First PD was reported at metastatic sites only in 77.4%, and at local and metastatic sites concurrently in 22.6%. None had first PD only in local disease, or clinical PD before PD on WB-MRI. CONCLUSION: Clinical evidence of SACT benefit in local disease may give false reassurance about disease at metastatic sites.