ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the characteristics of magnetic resonance imaging and clinical application of multi-modality magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for evaluating the response of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).Methods:A total of 36 IBC patients were enrolled in the study.The morphological, hemodynamic and diffusion-weighted imaging features of MRI were analyzed. Eleven patients underwent MRI examination before and after NAT. The imaging changes were analyzed and the efficacy of NACT was evaluated.Results:There were 38 identified breast carcinoma in these 36 cases, among which abnormal skin thickening and enhancement, extensive edema was found in 37 breast lesions. Enhancement of breast lesions in 25 cases was non-mass-like enhancement. Diffusion limitation was found in all lesions. The number of vessels in affected side was more than that in healthy side in MIP images. Thirty three cases had axillary lymph node enlargement.The sensitivity and specificity of MRI in evaluating residual breast tumors and vascular thrombus were high, but the evaluation of axillary lymph nodes was relatively low.Conclusions:Multi-modal MRI can be used for early and accurate diagnosis of IBC. It can also be used to predict and evaluate the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy.