Cone-beam Breast Computed Tomography: CT Density Does Not Reflect Proliferation Potential and Receptor Expression of Breast Carcinoma.

Purpose: Recently, cone-beam breast computed tomography (CBCT) is established for the breast investigation. The purpose of the present study was to investigate possible associations between CBCT findings and histopathological features in breast cancer.

Methods: Overall, 59 female patients, mean age of 64.6 years with histological proven breast cancer were included into the study. In all cases, non-contrast CBCT examination was done. The diagnosis of the identified lesions was confirmed histologically by biopsy. Immunohistochemical staining against estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and Ki-67 was performed for every lesion. Collected data were evaluated by means of descriptive statistics. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to analyze the association between CT density and Ki-67 values. P values <0.05 were taken to indicate statistical significance in all instances.

Results: The size of the lesion varied from 2.7 to 90.0, mean size, 15.88±13.0 mm. The mean value of CT density of the lesions was 63.95±38.18 HU. The density tended to be higher in tubular carcinoma. Correlation analysis identified no significant correlations between CT density and Ki-67 level (r=-0.031, P=.784). There were no statistically significant differences of CT density between tumors with different receptor status.

Conclusions: No significant associations between CT density and receptor status in breast cancer. Tubular carcinoma tended to have higher CT density in comparison to other subtypes of breast carcinomas.