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Transforming the Peripartum Period from a Breast Cancer Screening “Blind Spot” into a Window for Enhanced Cancer Detection

Award Number: K08CA312653
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: TRAINING/TRAINEESHIP
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/03/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2031

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Transforming the Peripartum Period from a Breast Cancer Screening “Blind Spot” into a Window for Enhanced Cancer Detection - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Breast cancers diagnosed during the postpartum period constitute a particularly aggressive cancer subtype with poor prognosis; patients are typically diagnosed at a more advanced stage and have a 60 percent higher risk of death compared to nulliparous controls. Although pregnancy and childbirth confer long-term protective effects against breast cancer, they are associated with an increased short-term risk of the disease. This problem is compounded by the limited effectiveness of standard breast cancer screening tests (i.e. mammogram, ultrasound, MRI) during the peripartum period. In effect, every time a woman has a baby, she must endure a screening blackout period/quasi-blackout period of up to two years. There is an urgent clinical need to develop better screening tests to serve women during the peripartum period. The long-term goal of this work is to develop specialized breast MRI technology that transforms the peripartum period from a “diagnostic blind spot” into a time of enhanced detection capability. The central hypothesis is that physiological changes during pregnancy and lactation, including lobular proliferation and luminal distension with secretory material, create endogenous contrast mechanisms that can be exploited by MRI for cancer detection. Tumor growth effaces the surrounding milk-filled ducts and lobules, a change in microstructure that this work proposes to capture with a specialized MRI acquisition and biophysical modeling. In this work, peripartum MRI (ppMRI), a novel non- contrast MRI technique will be developed that will sample a range of echo times, diffusion times and b-values and then solve for a diffusion-relaxation model to disentangle the underlying tumor and luminal compartments. This will enable luminal water fraction and luminal diameter mapping, identifying regions where the ductal architecture is effaced by tumor, thereby enhancing cancer detection. This constitutes a new way to visualize breast cancer on MRI, tailored to the unique physiology of the peripartum breast. Aim 1: Conduct numerical MRI simulations to demonstrate feasibility of MRI-based multicompartment modeling for breast cancer detection during lactation. A range of MRI acquisition and modeling parameters will be tested to generate an optimized protocol. Aim 2: Develop a novel peripartum MRI (ppMRI) technique using diffusion-based microstructure imaging, specifically tailored for cancer detection in the peripartum breast. By applying biophysical modeling of mammary gland microstructure, ppMRI will enable quantitative mapping of luminal duct diameter, an endogenous source of contrast to visualize tumor that is effacing fluid-filled ducts. Lactating breast phantoms will be constructed and scanned for quantitative validation of the ppMRI technique. Aim 3: Assess visualization of suspicious lesions in the lactating breast using ppMRI. Compare lesion visibility with ppMRI versus standard DCE-MRI, DWI-MRI, mammography, and ultrasound in a study of 36 lactating patients with recently diagnosed breast cancer and/or suspicious lesions.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $294,080 )
2026	2026	SLOAN-KETTERING INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH	1275 YORK AVE	NEW YORK	NY	10065	NEW YORK	USA	Cancer Research Manpower	000	1	9/3/2026	NEW	$294,080
														Subtotal = $294,080

Grand Total All Awards = $294,080

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Transforming the Peripartum Period from a Breast Cancer Screening “Blind Spot” into a Window for Enhanced Cancer Detection

Award Number: K08CA312653

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: TRAINING/TRAINEESHIP

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/03/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2031

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