# Quantitative Imaging for Assessing Breast Cancer Response to Treatment

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $652,814

## Abstract

Summary/Abstract
The goal of this project is to implement effective, imaging-based strategies combining DCE-MRI and DWI to
assess response for breast cancer patients receiving pre-operative (neoadjuvant) chemotherapy. This project
builds on the prior NCI Quantitative Imaging Network (QIN) U01 grant award CA151235 entitled “Quantitative
Imaging for Assessing Breast Cancer Response to Treatment” and addresses the needs for improved
accuracy, standardization and consistency of breast MRI to perform quantitative assessment of treatment
response across multiple clinical centers. The new QIN project will continue to advance quantitative MRI
methods in the context of the I-SPY 2 TRIAL, an adaptive Phase II trial of targeted agents for breast cancer.
We will use diagnostic models applied to the expanding I-SPY 2 cohorts to maximize the biomarker
performance of imaging measurements and to construct decision tools to enable rational strategies for
treatment modification. In prior work we developed and implemented image quality control and assessment
processes for breast diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) that were utilized in the American College of Radiology
Imaging Network (ACRIN) trial 6698, an imaging sub-study of I-SPY 2 testing DWI for prediction of response.
Initial results showed excellent repeatability of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements using a
standardized 4 b-value protocol, and change in ADC with treatment was found to be predictive of pathologic
complete response (pCR). In parallel efforts, we worked with QIN collaborators at University of Michigan and
industrial partners to develop gradient non-linearity correction and B0 inhomogeneity correction methods for
ADC quantification. We also collaborated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to
develop a universal breast MRI phantom for standardization of breast MRI in clinical trials. The new U01
project will evaluate these methods on the multiple vendor platforms in I-SPY 2 with particular focus on
maximizing the combined performance of breast DCE-MRI and DWI. Under Specific Aim 1, we propose to
gain performance improvements by implementing more advanced DWI pulse sequence techniques (multi
b-value DWI and high spatial resolution DWI) and correcting known systematic errors (gradient non-linearity
and B0 inhomogeneity). We will additionally implement a phantom-based quality assurance process to evaluate
pulse sequence performance at all sites, with the goal of identifying and correcting platform bias and variability
in ADC measurement and establishing quality benchmarks for data acceptance. Specific Aim 2 will focus on
improving ADC quantitation by incorporating co-registration of DWI to dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)
images, as well as automated segmentation techniques to measure heterogeneity in tumor ADC. We anticipate
that these collective improvements in image acquisition, standardization, use of quality benchmarks and pixel-
based metrics will lead to ov...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9999330
- **Project number:** 5U01CA225427-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Nola M. Hylton-Watson
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $652,814
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9999330

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9999330, Quantitative Imaging for Assessing Breast Cancer Response to Treatment (5U01CA225427-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9999330. Licensed CC0.

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