Keywords:
Breast, MR-Diffusion/Perfusion, Diagnostic procedure
Authors:
A. SPEZZACATENE, M. TONUTTI, F. GIUDICI, F. Zanconati, M. A. Cova; Trieste/IT
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-2197
Aims and objectives
Dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an important role in the detection and management of breast lesions and it is currently recommended for breast cancer staging,
screening women at high risk of developing breast cancer,
evaluation of patients with CUP-Syndrome ("cancer of unknown primary"),
assessment of the integrity of breast prosthesis and breast implants,
as well as interventional applications such as a guide to perform breast biopsies [1-3].
Although breast MRI is highly sensitive for detection of breast cancer,
its specificity remains modest,
with overlapping features of benign and malignant lesions on DCE MRI.
As a result,
nearly all suspicious lesions identified on MRI require second look ultrasound and frequently undergo core needle biopsy (CNB) in order to determine appropriate clinical management.
The use of high-field-strength (3T) MRI systems,
due to the increase in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR),
spatial,
temporal and contrast resolution [4],
may not only improve the detection of breast lesions and their pattern of enhancement on DCE MRI,
but may also contribute to a more accurate characterization of breast lesions thanks to higher diagnostic performance of Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) achieved at 3T.
In particular,
both qualitative and quantitative DWI showed promising results at high-field-strength,
the former with increased visibility of small breast lesions (<5 mm) [5] and the latter (provided optimal selection of b values) with high diagnostic performance of ADC cut-off in the differentiation of benign and malignant breast lesions [6].
The aim of this study is to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of quantitative DWI in the characterization of breast lesions using 3 T MRI.