Candelaria RP, Spak DA, Rauch GM, Huo L, Bassett RL, Santiago L, Scoggins ME, Guirguis MS, Patel MM, Whitman GJ, Moulder SL, Thompson AM, Ravenberg EE, White JB, Abuhadra NK, Valero V, Litton J, Adrada BE, Yang WT. BI-RADS Ultrasound Lexicon Descriptors and Stromal Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.
Acad Radiol 2022;
29 Suppl 1:S35-S41. [PMID:
34272161 PMCID:
PMC8755852 DOI:
10.1016/j.acra.2021.06.007]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Revised: 06/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE
Increased levels of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) have recently been considered a favorable independent prognostic and predictive biomarker in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between BI-RADS (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System) ultrasound lexicon descriptors and sTILs in TNBC.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Patients with stage I-III TNBC were evaluated within a single-institution neoadjuvant clinical trial. Two fellowship-trained breast radiologists used the BI-RADS ultrasound lexicon to assess pretreatment tumor shape, margin, echo pattern, orientation, posterior features, and vascularity. sTILs were defined as low <20 or high ≥20 on the pretreatment biopsy. Fisher's exact tests were used to assess the association between lexicon descriptors and sTIL levels.
RESULTS
The 284 patients (mean age 52 years, range 24-79 years) were comprised of 68% (193/284) with low-sTIL tumors and 32% (91/284) with high-sTIL tumors. TNBC tumors with high sTILs were more likely to have the following features: (1) oval/round shape than irregular shape (p = 0.003), (2) circumscribed or microlobulated margins than spiculated, indistinct, or angular margins (p = 0.0005); (3) complex cystic and solid pattern than heterogeneous pattern (p = 0.006); and (4) posterior enhancement than shadowing (p = 0.002). There was no significant association between sTILs and descriptors for orientation and vascularity (p = 0.06 and p = 0.49, respectively).
CONCLUSION
BI-RADS ultrasound descriptors of the pretreatment appearance of a TNBC tumor can be useful in discriminating between tumors with low and high sTIL levels. Therefore, there is a potential use of ultrasound tumor characteristics to complement sTILs when used as stratification factors in treatment algorithms for TNBC.
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