Thomas E. Yankeelov, Ph.D.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is increasingly used in women with locally advanced breast cancer before surgical treatment. Early assessment of response to NAC would allow clinicians to identify patients who are not responding and adjust their therapy.

Thomas Yankeelov, Ph.D., Ingram Associate Professor of Cancer Research, and colleagues obtained two types of magnetic resonance imaging – diffusion-weighted (DW-MRI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE-MRI) – for 28 patients before treatment, after one cycle, and after completion of all cycles of NAC. They used the imaging data in a logistic model of tumor growth to calculate a proliferation rate after one cycle and from that, to predict the tumor cell number after NAC completion.