Peritumor to Tumor Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Ratio is Associated with Biologically More Aggressive Breast Cancer Features and Correlates with the Prognostication Tools

Purpose The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) is increasingly used to characterize breast cancer. The peritumor/tumor ADC ratio is suggested to be a reliable and generally applicable index. However, its overall prognostication value remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the associations between the peritumor/tumor ADC ratio and histopathological biomarkers and published prognostic tools in patients with invasive breast cancer. Materials and methods This prospective study included 88 lesions (five bilateral) in 83 patients with primary invasive breast cancer who underwent preoperative 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging. The lowest intratumoral mean ADC value on the slice with the largest tumor cross-sectional area was designated the tumor ADC, and the highest mean ADC value on the peritumoral breast parenchymal tissue adjacent to the tumor border was designated the peritumor ADC. The peritumor/tumor ADC ratio was then calculated. The tumor and peritumor ADC values and peritumor/tumor ADC ratios were compared with histopathological parameters using an unpaired t test, and their correlations with published prognostic tools were evaluated with Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Results The peritumor/tumor ADC ratio was significantly associated with tumor size (p<0.001), histological grade (p = 0.005), Ki-67 index (p = 0.006), axillary-lymph-node metastasis (p = 0.001), and lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.006), but was not associated with estrogen receptor status (p = 0.931), progesterone receptor status (p = 0.160), or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status (p = 0.259). The peritumor/tumor ADC ratio showed moderate positive correlations with the Nottingham Prognostic Index (r = 0.498, p<0.001) and mortality predicted using PREDICT (r = 0.436, p<0.001). Conclusion The peritumor/tumor ADC ratio was correlated with histopathological biomarkers in patients with invasive breast cancer, showed significant correlations with published prognostic indexes, and may provide an easily applicable imaging index for the preoperative prognostic evaluation of breast cancer.