Review of Prognostic Significance of Quantitative BPE Measurements

TL;DR

This review examines how measuring background parenchymal enhancement in breast MRI can predict breast cancer treatment outcomes and recurrence risk.

Contribution

The paper evaluates the prognostic value of quantitative BPE measurements in breast cancer treatment prediction.

Findings

BPE reduction during chemotherapy is linked to better treatment response.

High baseline BPE is associated with lower recurrence risk.

Quantitative BPE assessments provide objective and reproducible prognostic data.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) on breast magnetic resonance imaging reflects hormonal and vascular activity of fibroglandular tissue and is studied as a prognostic marker for breast cancer. This paper serves as a review that evaluates quantitative methods for BPE measurements for predicting treatment outcomes. Methods: PubMed was searched for papers on evaluating BPE with outcomes to compare, such as pathologic complete response, recurrence-free survival, disease-free survival, and overall survival, from 2015 to 2025. In total, eleven papers using quantitative methods to measure BPE were selected. Results: Quantitative results showed that BPE reduction during neoadjuvant chemotherapy and high pre-treatment/baseline BPE are linked to improved treatment response and reduced risk of recurrence. Conclusions: Quantitative assessment methods yield objective and reproducible prognostic information. Incorporating quantitative BPE measurements alongside tumor-focused imaging features may further improve predictive accuracy in clinical settings.

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