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BACKGROUND: For assessing the predictability of oncology neoadjuvant therapy results, the background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) parameter in breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has acquired increased interest. This work aims to qualitatively evaluate the BPE parameter as a potential predictive marker for neoadjuvant therapy. METHOD: Three radiologists examined, in triple-blind modality, the MRIs of 80 patients performed before the start of chemotherapy, after three months from the start of treatment, and after surgery. They identified the portion of fibroglandular tissue (FGT) and BPE of the contralateral breast to the tumor in the basal control pre-treatment (baseline). RESULTS: We observed a reduction of BPE classes in serial MRI checks performed during neoadjuvant therapy, as compared to baseline pre-treatment conditions, in 61.3% of patients in the intermediate step, and in 86.7% of patients in the final step. BPE reduction was significantly associated with sequential anthracyclines/taxane administration in the first cycle of neoadjuvant therapy compared to anti-HER2 containing therapies. The therapy response was also significantly related to tumor size. There were no associations with menopausal status, fibroglandular tissue (FGT) amount, age, BPE baseline, BPE in intermediate, and in the final MRI step. CONCLUSIONS: The measured variability of this parameter during therapy could predict therapy effectiveness in early stages, improving decision-making in the perspective of personalized medicine. Our preliminary results suggest that BPE may represent a predictive factor in response to neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer, warranting future investigations in conjunction with radiomics.
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OBJECTIVES: This study sought to determine whether the breast gland adipose tissue is associated with different rates of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) in pre-menopausal women. BACKGROUND: To our knowledge, no study investigated the impact of breast adipose tissue infiltration on MACEs in pre-menopausal women. METHODS: Prospective multicenter cohort study conducted on pre-menopausal women >40 years of age without cardiovascular disease and breast cancer at enrollment. The study started in January 2000 and ended in January 2009, and the end of the follow-up for the evaluation of MACEs was in January 2019. Participants underwent mammography to evaluate breast density and were divided into 4 groups according to their breast density. The primary endpoint was the probability of a MACE at 10 years of follow-up in patients staged for different breast deposition/adipose tissue deposition. RESULTS: The propensity score matching divided the baseline population of 16,763 pre-menopausal women, leaving 3,272 women according to the category of breast density from A to D. These women were assigned to 4 groups of the study according to baseline breast density. At 10 years of follow-up, we had 160 MACEs in group 1, 62 MACEs in group 2, 27 MACEs in group 3, and 16 MACEs in group 4. MACEs were predicted by the initial diagnosis of lowest breast density (hazard ratio: 3.483; 95% confidence interval: 1.476 to 8.257). Further randomized clinical trials are needed to translate the results of the present study into clinical practice. The loss of ex vivo breast density models to study the cellular/molecular pathways implied in MACE is another study limitation. CONCLUSIONS: Among pre-menopausal women, a higher evidence of adipose tissue at the level of breast gland (lowest breast density, category A) versus higher breast density shows higher rates of MACEs. Therefore, the screening mammography could be proposed in overweight women to stage breast density and to predict MACEs. (Breast Density in Pre-menopausal Women Is Predictive of Cardiovascular Outcomes at 10 Years of Follow-Up [BRECARD]; NCT03779217).