Purpose
Background:
Dynamic magnetic resonance mammography (MRM) is the most sensitive method for detecting early invasive breast cancer,
combining morphological information with functional characterization based on analysis of contrast enhancement kinetics of the breast (1).
Especially with increasing use of MRM for screening of asymptomatic women at high risk for breast cancer,it is desirable to have comprehensive qualitative and quantitative data on morphological and kinetic features of the healthy breast from a large,
unselected population of women.
However,
such studies are sparse (2) and limited to...
Methods and Materials
Study Population:
All women were consecutively enrolled in the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP),
a prospective population-based cohort study in Northeast Germany (11).
SHIP aims to estimate the prevalence and incidence of risk factors and diseases and to investigate the complex associations among risk factors,
subclinical disorders,
and diseases.
Since 2008,
whole-body MRI has been part of SHIP,
including an optional MRM (12).
Women with known allergies to any kind of contrast agent or drugs were excluded from MRI,
as were pregnant or breastfeeding...
Results
Baseline T1 Signal Intensity:
BSI varied considerably across individuals with a mean of 167.73 ± 49.16 (standard deviation) and 175.86 ± 48.85 in the right and left breast,
respectively.
The initial mean difference in BSI of 8.14 was statistically significant,
based on a paired t-test (p<0.001).
BSI increased linearly with age,
body weight,
and BMI (Figure 1,
2 and 3).
BSI decreased linearly with body height,
but this association was weaker and showed no significance (p=0.38).
Age,
body weight,
and BMI effects were higher in...
Conclusion
This prospective population-based study assessed contrast enhancement (CE) kinetics of normal breast parenchyma based on the analysis of 345 MRM datasets of healthy women from a general population cohort.
Our results indicate that:
T1 baseline signal intensity (BSI) and CE of healthy breast parenchyma varied considerably across individuals from a population-based cohort.
Body weight and age were significant predictors of BSI,
while body weight and menopausal status were significant predictors of CE kinetics.
Calculation of contrast medium dose on the basis of total body weight...
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