HER-2 expression is correlated with multimodal imaging features in breast cancer: a pilot study.

Objective: A pilot study to evaluate the correlation between multimodal imaging features and the expression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER-2) in breast cancer to provide a basis for clinical treatment and prognosis evaluation.

Methods: We included a total of 62 patients with breast cancer admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University between 2018 and 2022. All of them underwent the relevant investigations, including ultrasound, mammography, and enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in the hospital within one month before surgery or biopsy. HER-2 expression level was divided into negative and positive by immunohistochemistry(IHC). Using SPSS 24.0 statistical software to analyze the differences in imaging features between the HER-2 positive and the HER-2 negative groups.

Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the HER-2 positive and the HER-2 negative groups ( = 0.005) in the hyperechoic halo sign around the lesion detected by ultrasonography as well as in the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) on MRI ( = 0.047). The sensitivity and specificity of the hyperechoic halo sign in predicting HER-2 positivity was 48.3% and 84.8% respectively, and the area under the curve (AUC) for the ADC value to predict HER-2 expression was 0.533. When b was equal to 800 and the ADC value (cutoff value) was 0.000888 mm/s, the sensitivity and specificity were 65.5% and 51.5%, respectively.

Conclusion: A combination of multimodal imaging features and HER-2 gene expression can provide more valuable information for clinical diagnosis and therapeutic schedule in breast cancer.