DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjams.2025.v13i09.009

Pages: 1680-1684

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies in women worldwide, with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) increasingly used to downstage tumors and facilitate breast-conserving surgery. Accurate and timely assessment of tumor response to NACT is critical in optimizing treatment plans and predicting outcomes. Ultrasound (USD), due to its safety, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness, is frequently employed for this purpose. Objective: To assess the role of ultrasound in evaluating tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. Method: A retrospective observational study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Bangladesh between January 2022 to December 2022. A total of 36 female patients with histologically confirmed breast cancer who underwent NACT were included. Ultrasound imaging was used to measure tumor size at three time points: before chemotherapy, mid-therapy, and after completion of chemotherapy. Tumor response was analyzed by comparing pre- and post-treatment tumor sizes. Results: The majority of patients (60%) were aged between 51 and 56 years. Before chemotherapy, 65% of tumors measured between 5.6×4.5 cm and 8.0×6.0 cm. Following chemotherapy, 54.5% of tumors were reduced to below 2.5×2.0 cm, with 24.5% shrinking to as small as 1.0×1.0 cm. Most of our patients received 6 to 8 cycles of chemotherapy, with a small proportion requiring extended cycles or surgical intervention. Overall, ultrasound effectively demonstrated tumor shrinkage and variability in response. Conclusion: Ultrasound proved to be a valuable, non-invasive modality for monitoring breast cancer response to NACT. It allowed dynamic assessment of tumor size reduction and informed treatment decisions, supporting its continued use as a primary imaging tool in the neoadjuvant setting.