title: Radiological features of triple-negative breast cancers (73 cases).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Triple-negative breast cancers generally occur in young women and they have the potential to be aggressive. It is important for this subtype of tumour to be detected early. We studied the appearance of 73 tumours on mammography, sonography and MRI in order to determine what specific features they showed on imaging.
  
  
  METHODS
  From July 2009 to December 2010, we retrospectively reviewed mammogram and sonogram images of 73 triple-negative cancers. Colour Doppler had been used to depict vascularisation in 34 cases and elastography score calculated in 17 cases. Sixteen patients had undergone MRI. The radiological description of these different modalities draws on the BI-RADS lexicon and categorisation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On mammography, triple-negative cancers often presented as a round mass (59.3%) or an oval or lobulated mass (65%), with circumscribed (15%), microlobulated (12.5%), indistinct (55%) or occasionally spiculated margins (15%). On sonography, the vast majority of these cancers appeared as masses (92.8%) with occasional posterior acoustic attenuation (22.6%). MRI showed more suspicious images than the standard examinations, notably rim-enhancement (eight out of 12 masses).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  . Radiological images appear as lobulated masses more readily, while on sonography posterior enhancement is shown more often than attenuation, and MRI finds rim-enhancement.
authors.affiliation: Medical Imaging Department, Institut Bergonié, Bordeaux, France. boisserie-lacroix@bergonie.org
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boisserie-Lacroix
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mac Grogan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Debled
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ferron
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asad-Syed
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brouste
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mathoulin-Pelissier
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hurtevent-Labrot
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D002285:Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008327:Mammography; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000235:genetics; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000235:genetics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color; D016217:Ultrasonography, Mammary
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human