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Detection of recurrence of breast cancer after conserving breast surgery and radiotherapy still represents a challenge because of changes in breast tissue after treatment. The aim was to assess the value of Multislice CT mammography in the detection of recurrent breast cancer in patients with previous conservative surgery and radiotherapy. Subject and Methods: The study included 126 consecutive patients with breast cancer treated with conservative surgery and radiotherapy. CTM scans were evaluated by morphological and dynamic characteristics. CTM diagnosis was compared with histology results. Results: MD-CTM findings were compared with histology in 126 patients. CT mammography (CTM) showed 80% sensitivity, 99% specificity, 97% positive predictive value and 92% negative predictive value for detection of recurrence on the surgical.

Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of breast masses has been replaced by ultrasound-guided core-needle biopsy (USG-CNB) in many countries. However, in Egypt, breast FNAC continues to play the major role in diagnosing breast masses. In this prospective study, we evaluated the efficacy of USG-FNACs performed at a breast cancer screening center by comparing the FNAC results with the corresponding definitive histological examination outcome. We also investigated the role that CNB can play as a complementary diagnostic tool for FNAC in selected cases. A total of 229 consecutive nonpalpable breast masses were included in this study. Each FNAC was placed into one of four categories: 3.5% nondiagnostic, 13.5% benign, 12.3% atypical/suspicious (indeterminate), and 70.7% malignant. The overall diagnostic accuracy was 98.9%, with a specificity and sensitivity of 99.3 and 96.7%, respectively. The overall positive predictive values and negative predictive values were 99.3 and 96.7%, respectively. Only 37 masses (16%) were converted to CNB, with the indeterminate cytology being the most common cause (54%) for this conversion. Two cases demonstrating the superior benefit of FNAC over CNB are illustrated. Although we started the study by reserving CNB as a first choice to assess microcalcifications without architectural distortion, we ended the study by deciding to perform combined FNAC and CNB for this type of lesions. In conclusion, aiming to maximize the preoperative diagnosis of cancer, it would be cost efficient and time saving to use FNAC as a first-line investigation to benefit from the wealth of cytological information yielded, followed by CNB in selected cases. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2010;38:880–889. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Introduction: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is the standard treatment modality in locally advanced breast cancer, and accepted as an alternate modality in operable breast cancer. Pathological Complete Response (pCR) is a surrogate for better outcome. The identification of the most sensitive clinical and radiological method to pCR will be helpful in patient’s management. Patients and methods: Multicenterprospective study assessed the correlation between (pCR) and radiological Complete Response (rCR) using different radiological modalities. 125 female with primary measurable stage II or III non inflammatory breast cancer, were enrolled in the study after pathological confirmation using image guided core biopsy. Pathological assessment was done. All eligible cases received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (FEC) IV every 3 weeks for three cycles followed by Docetaxel IV every 3 weeks for three cycles. Trastuzumab was added in Her2neu positive patients concomitantly with docetaxel. Radiological evaluation was done before chemotherapy and prior to definitive surgery. pCR was defined as complete disappearance of invasive tumor cells in both breast surgical specimen and lymph nodes. Patients who achieved pCR were correlated with truly positive rCR by different modalities. The results were statistically analyzed using the Kappa method for agreement. Results: 20% of the patients achieved pCR 25/125. All these patients received 6 cycles of chemotherapy, only 4 patients received Trastuzumab. Conservative surgery was performed in 80% of cases and MRM in 5/25 of them. True radiological Complete Response (rCR) was achieved in 56% of patients by mammography, 17/25 (68%) of patients by ultrasonography who showed complete disappearance of the mass. 23/25 (92%) achieved rCR morphologically by Dynamic MR-Mammography and in 24/25 (96%) of cases using the kinetic data. MR Spectroscopy showed rCR in (92%) cases. In our study, predictions made on the basis of MRI showed a better correlation with the pathological response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy than did estimations made on the basis of mammography or sonography. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for Dynamic MRI in predicting complete pathological response were 96%, 94%, 89% and 99% respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for MRS were 92%, 92%, 85% and 97% respectively while the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for Mammography were 44%, 87%, 61% and 87% respectively and the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for ultrasonography were 68%, 90%, 77% and 92% respectively. Conclusion: The most sensitive radiological methods correlated with pCR were dynamic MR mammography and MR Spectroscopy, further studies using new modalities and larger number of patients is required to confirm our results.