title: Histopathologic and Metabolic Criteria for Assessment of Treatment Response in Breast Cancer.
abstract: Increasing use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced breast cancer necessitates methods for evaluation of therapeutic response. Histopathology provides accurate assessment of treatment efficacy but only approximately 20% of breast cancer patients achieve complete pathologic response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Therefore, methods that predict therapeutic effectiveness could help individualize treatment and avoid ineffective chemotherapies. Metabolic imaging using positron emission tomography (PET) and F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) seems to provide early response assessment in vivo. Change in FDG uptake after chemotherapy initiation correlates with histopathologic response after completion. PET response assessment criteria and imaging protocols need to be developed and validated. This article compares complementary approaches for assessment of treatment response, namely histologic features of the tumor on the microscopic level versus in vivo metabolic changes on a macroscopic level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Technical University Munich, Ismaningerstrasse 22, 81675 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sassen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Technical University Munich, Ismaningerstrasse 22, 81675 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Falko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fend
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine, Queen Mary, University of London, West Smithfield (QEII), London, EC1A 7BE, UK.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Avril