Study to Evaluate the Feasibility of 13-C Pyruvate Imaging in Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2022-01-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in women and the most frequent cause
of death. Despite breast screening programs, a substantial number of women are diagnosed with
cancers greater than 2 cm in size or locally advanced disease, which is best treated with
neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) prior to surgery. Approximately 10% of women diagnosed with
breast cancer annually will have locally advanced breast cancer, defined as stage III
disease, where the cancer has either spread to regional lymph nodes and/or other tissue in
the area of the breast, but not to distant sites. NAC offers the advantages of downstaging
the disease, potentially reducing the extent of surgery. Presently, gadolinium enhanced MRI
is the standard test used to monitor disease response to chemotherapy, and demonstrates
changes in tumour size and extent between pre-NAC and post-NAC. Unfortunately, changes in
tumour size may occur late in treatment regimen, thus producing false-negative results on
early magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Therefore, newer imaging techniques beyond anatomical
imaging are needed to identify tumours that are unresponsive to chemotherapy and potentially
change treatment plan early on to avoid significant morbidity associated with prolonged
chemotherapy.
A novel MRI technique utilizing hyperpolarized pyruvate has the potential to detect
pathophysiological response early in the treatment regimen and would therefore allow for
earlier identification of nonresponders and subsequent early modification of treatment
regimens, if necessary.