MRI-guided biopsy helps evaluate chemotherapy response in breast cancer: JAMA

The following results were highlighted-

1. The technique achieved a negative predictive value of 95% for invasive cancer.
2. On surgical pathology, 11 patients had no evidence of residual cancer, eight patients were diagnosed with residual invasive cancer, and one patient was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ.
3. The method gave a false-negative result to one patient with residual invasive cancer of less than 0.02 cm on surgical pathology.
4. MRI-guided biopsy achieved a negative predictive value of 93% for invasive cancer and 86% for both invasive and in situ cancers.
5. Both metrics came in above the 85% threshold deemed acceptable by the authors at the study outset.

Hence, the authors suggested that a negative MRI-guided biopsy result was a reliable indicator of [pathologic complete response], or of limited residual disease, after [neoadjuvant chemotherapy].

"These preliminary results suggest that MRI-guided biopsy was an accurate approach for evaluating the extent of residual disease after [neoadjuvant chemotherapy]," wrote the authors.

It was hence, concluded that "these preliminary results support the need for further study of our novel method that uses MRI-guided biopsy"