Keywords:
Haemodynamics / Flow dynamics, Normal variants, Contrast agent-intravenous, MR, Breast
Authors:
K. Hegenscheid1, C. O. Schmidt1, R. Seipel1, R. Ohlinger1, R. Laqua1, J.-P. Kühn1, N. Hosten1, R. Puls2; 1Greifswald/DE, 2Insel Riems/DE
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2012/C-0642
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 small study populations (3-5) or selection of symptomatic patients with examination of the contralateral "normal" breast (6-10).
To our knowledge,
no study evaluated contrast enhancement kinetics of normal breast parenchyma in women from a general population.
Therefore,
the objectives of this study were:
- To study baseline T1 signal intensity (BSI) and contrast enhancement (CE) kinetics of normal breast parenchyma in a large population-based cohort study using MRM,
and
- To identify predictors of their variability such as anthropometric measures,
menopausal status,
and hormone intake.