Objective To comprehensively review the clinical application and technical progress of amide proton transfer weighted imaging (APTw) in breast cancer, and provide new ideas for the precise diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation of breast cancer. MethodBy searching relevant domestic and foreign literature, this paper reviews the technique principle of APTw, clinical research in breast cancer and the technical progress of APTw. ResultsAPTw as a molecular functional imaging technique, can non-invasively detect the content of amide protons of proteins and peptides in tissues. It has demonstrated significant application value in differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions, molecular subtype prediction, tumor grading and staging evaluation, monitoring the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and early assessment of lymphedema. Technical optimization of APTw and integration with artificial intelligence provides new development directions for its clinical transformation. ConclusionAPTw has a broad application prospect in the precise diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation of breast cancer, but its clinical application still needs to slove key issues such as standardization and reproducibility.
