Fig. 1

Examples of breast edema score on MRI. a A 43-year-old female presented with pathologically confirmed left breast cancer without axillary lymph node metastasis. IHC: ER (80% +), PR (90% +), KI67 (10% +), HER-2 (−). Axial fat-suppressed T2 weighted image (T2WI) showed no high signal intensity (no edema, BES 1) in the breast. Axial post-contrast T1 weighted image (DCE-MRI) showed the spiculated mass heterogeneously enhanced. b A 68-year-old female presented with pathologically confirmed right breast cancer with eight axillary lymph nodes metastasis. IHC: ER (−), PR (−), Ki-67 (30% +), HER-2 (−). T2WI showed the signal intensity around the tumor mass was as high as that of water (peritumoral edema, BES 2). DCE-MRI showed the apparent enhancement of lesion. c A 69-year-old female presented with pathologically confirmed right breast cancer with four axillary lymph nodes metastasis and lymphovascular invasion. IHC: ER (90% +), PR (70% +), KI67 (30% +), HER-2 (−). T2WI showed a line-shaped hyperintensity extended to the anterior space of pectoralis major muscle (prepectoral edema, BES 3) and high intensity around the mass. DCE-MRI showed the obvious enhancement of lesion. d A 64-year-old female presented with pathologically confirmed left breast cancer with fourteen axillary lymph nodes metastasis. IHC: ER (−), PR (−), KI67 (30% +), HER-2 ( +). T2WI showed the skin adjacent to the mass thickening and the hyperintensity of skin and subcutaneous fat (subcutaneous edema, BES 4) and high intensity in the prepectoral area. DCE-MRI showed the oval mass heterogeneously enhanced