Early Recurrence of Breast Cancer after the Primary Treatment: Analysis of Clinicopathological and Radiological Predictive Factors

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#To evaluate the value of clinicopathologic factors and imaging features of primary breast cancer in predicting early recurrence after the primary treatment. @*Materials and Methods@#We enrolled 480 patients who had been followed-up after breast-conserving surgery and adjuvant therapy from January 2010 to December 2014 at our hospital. Early recurrence was defined as recurrence within 3 years after completion of primary treatment, and univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the clinicopathologic and imaging predictive factors of early recurrence. @*Results@#In the univariate analysis, among the clinicopathologic factors, advanced stage (p = 0.021), high histologic grade (p < 0.001), estrogen receptor negative (p = 0.002), high Ki-67 proliferation index (p = 0.017), and triple-negative breast cancer (p = 0.019), and among the imaging features, multifocality (p < 0.001), vessels in the rim on Doppler ultrasonography (US) (p = 0.012), and rim enhancement (p < 0.001) on magnetic resonance imaging of the breast were significantly associated with early recurrence. In the multivariate analysis, advanced stage [odds ratio (OR) = 3.47; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12–10.73; p = 0.031] and vessels in the rim on Doppler US (OR = 3.32; 95% CI 1.38–8.02; p = 0.008) were the independent predictive factors of early recurrence. @*Conclusion@#Vascular findings in the rim of the primary breast cancer on Doppler US before treatment is a radiologic independent predictive factor of early recurrence after the primary treatment.