Kinetic and radiomic features on DCE-MRI as a predictor for axillary lymph node metastasis burden in T1 and T2 stage breast cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is increasingly used to evaluate axillary lymph node (ALN) status in breast cancer. However, the correlation between MRI features of the primary tumor and the ALN metastasis (ALNM) burden remains poorly understood. This study aimed to develop a non-invasive MRI-based model to preoperatively distinguish between low (≤2 nodes) and high (>2 nodes) ALNM burden in T1 and T2 stage breast cancer.

Methods

This retrospective single-center study included 185 patients, categorized by ALNM burden [≤ 2 nodes (n = 149) or >2 nodes (n = 36)]. The kinetic and radiomic features were extracted from the segmented whole tumor on dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI). A forward-stepwise feature selection method was employed based on the ANOVA F-score

SUBMITTER: Liu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12819264 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature