Breast Cancer Chemotherapy Monitoring With Dedicated Breast Computed Tomography

Before undergoing surgery to remove the tumor, it is common for breast cancer patients to first undergo chemotherapy or hormonal therapy. The main goal of the therapy is to reduce the size of the tumor before it is removed. Unfortunately, therapy response varies a lot between patients. The development of an effective therapy response monitoring method could reduce the time that a patient undergoes ineffectual therapy or unnecessary therapy after complete response.

Dedicated breast computed tomography (or breast CT), a new way of imaging the breast, has been introduced in the last few years. Breast CT is an x-ray exam that uses 3D imaging to show the breast in its real three dimensional shape. Combined with the use of special chemicals called iodine contrast enhancement, breast CT can provide images of both the anatomy and the blood flow in the breast. We propose to use breast CT to carefully monitor the response to therapy of breast cancer patients undergoing therapy before surgery.