Application of Dual-Energy Computed Tomography for Breast Cancer Diagnosis

The present study aimed to investigate the possibility of using dual-energy computed tomography (CT) before therapy to discriminate between normal breast tissue and tumor tissue in patients with breast cancer, without the need to use a contrast medium. The following patient data were extracted by interview and from the hospital’s radiology information system: height, weight, age, menstrual cycle, CT images of normal tissue and tumors with or without contrast medium, and the histopathological diagnosis of the aspiration biopsy. The median age of the 43 participants was 56 years (range, 30 80 years). The CT values were evaluated using a clinical analytical program based on the three-material decomposition technique. Breast cancer was classified into ductal carcinoma in situ, invasive ductal carcinoma, invasive lobular carcinoma, fibromatosis-like metaplastic carcinoma, and apocrine carcinoma. In all conditions, regardless of contrast medium, the CT values of tumor tissues were higher than those of normal breast tissue, indicating the effectiveness of dual-energy CT (DE-CT) in the diagnosis of breast cancer. By contrast, DE-CT showed limited potential for distinguishing ductal carcinoma in situ from invasive ductal carcinoma. There have only been a few reports regarding CT examination of breast cancer, and it is expected this study encourage the development of DE-CT imaging to improve tumor detection in patients with breast cancer.