Gene Young Cho^1,2, Linda Moy³, Scott DeGregorio³, Sungheon Kim¹, Melanie Moccaldi³, Jane Kwon¹, Steven Baete¹, Daniel K Sodickson¹, and Eric E Sigmund^1
1Radiology, NYU School of Medicine - Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, New York, NY, United States, ²NYU Sackler Institute of Biomedical Science, New York, NY, United States, ³Radiology, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States

Recent studies have used MRI biomarkers such as background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) to correlate with prognostic factors of breast cancer and predict cancer odds. An increased BPE correlates significantly with higher odds ratios for developing breast cancer. In this study, BPE was measured from a cohort of healthy controls and breast cancer patients using dynamic contrast enhanced MRI. BPE values were compared between controls and patients, and with diffusion metrics of fibroglandular tissue (FGT) and in the patient lesions. Implications for the biophysical underpinnings of BPE and its interpretation are considered.

Peter T. Fwu¹, Jeon-Hor. Chen^1,2, Siwa Chan³, Dah-Cherng Yeh⁴, Chin-Kai Chang², Julian Kao¹, Muqing Lin¹, Orhan Nalcioglu¹, and Min-Ying L. Su^1
1Center for Functional Onco-Imaging, Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, Irvne, California, United States, ²Department of Radiology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, ³Department of Radiology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan,⁴Department of Surgery, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

The purpose is to develop a quantitative method to characterize the breast density pattern using 3D morphology and texture analysis for investigating its role in cancer risk prediction. Morphology is characterized by circularity, convexity, and irregularity; texture is characterized by coefficient of variation in signal intensity distribution and the GLCM matrix. The ability of analyzed parameters to differentiate between the central and the intermingled breast density patterns is evaluated by the ROC analysis. The results show that morphology parameters can reach AUC of 0.95, texture parameters have a lower AUC of 0.90, but combining them can yield AUC of 0.98.

Samata M. Kakkad¹, Ioannis Stasinopoulos¹, Marie-France Penet¹, Arvind P. Pathak¹, Meiyappan Solaiyappan¹, and Zaver M. Bhujwalla^1
1JHU ICMIC Program, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States

COX-2 is a critically important mediator of inflammation that significantly influences tumor angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis. Here, we investigated the role of COX-2 in altering structure and function of the extracellular matrix (ECM) using MRI and second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging of tumors derived from triple negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells and a derived clone stably expressing shRNA downregulating COX-2. MRI of albumin-GdDTPA was used to characterize macromolecular fluid transport and SHG imaging to quantify collagen I fiber morphology. COX-2 downregulation decreased fibrillar collagen and altered macromolecular fluid transport. These results identify new roles for COX-2 in altering the ECM.

Stefan Posse^1,2, Tongsheng Zhang¹, Melanie Royce³, Zoneddy Dayao³, Susan Lopez⁴, Laurel Sillerud⁵, Stephen Eberhardt⁶, Lesley Lomo⁷, Sang-Joon Lee⁸, Ashwani Rajput⁹, John Russell⁹, Linda Casey¹⁰, and Patrick Bolan^11
1Neurology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States, ²Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States, ³Medical Oncology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States, ⁴Clinical Trials Office, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States, ⁵Biochemistry, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States, ⁶Radiology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States, ⁷Pathology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States, ⁸Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States, ⁹Surgery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States, ¹⁰New Mexico Cancer Center, Albuquerque, NM, United States, ¹¹Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States

Eleven patients with biopsy-confirmed, infiltrating ductal carcinoma were studied at 3T using 3D lipid suppressed Proton-Echo-Planar-Spectroscopic-Imaging (PEPSI) with a 10 min scan protocol and 1 cc voxel size. Strongly elevated tCho with mean concentrations between 0.3 and 4.1 mmol/kg was measured in 8 of the 11 patients with single and multi-centric enhancing lesions. Decreases in tCho concentration and number of voxels with detectable tCho were measured in 3 patients who underwent neoadjuvant therapy. An increase was measured in one patient. At TE 60 ms an additional resonance was detected that was elevated in enhancing lesions and tentatively assigned to Taurine.

Wei Huang¹, Xin Li¹, Luminita A Tudorica¹, Karen Y Oh¹, Sunitha B Thakur², Elizabeth A Morris², Yiyi Chen¹, Nicole Roy¹, Mark D Kettler¹, Jason A Koutcher², and Charles S Springer^1
1Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, United States, ²Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, United States

157 patients with 172 suspicious breast lesions underwent research DCE-MRI prior to biopsies. DCE-MRI time-course data were subjected to both Standard model (SM) and Shutter-Speed Model (SSM) analyses. Though not a good diagnostic biomarker, the mean intracellular water molecule lifetime, ôi, derived only with the SSM, was significantly smaller in malignant compared to benign lesions. ôi was also inversely correlated with SM and SSM Ktrans. The inverse relationships of ôi with cellular metabolic activity and Ktrans indicate its potential use for detection of hypoxia/necrosis and evaluation of breast cancer response to therapy.

Dorota Jakubowski Wisner¹, Nathan Rogers², Vibhas Deshpande³, Gerhard Laub³, David Porter⁴, Bonnie Joe¹, and Nola Hylton^1
1Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States, ²Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States, ³Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., San Francisco, CA, United States, ⁴Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Erlangen, Germany

This study compares ADC values obtained by thin-slice RESOLVE (a readout segmented diffusion technique) to typical EPI diffusion imaging at 3T, as tested on suspicious breast MRI lesions prior to biopsy. We found that among malignant lesions, RESOLVE demonstrates lower mean ADC values, increasing separation between benign and malignant lesions.

Sunitha Thakur^1,2, Louisa Bokacheva¹, Jennifer Kaplan², Merlin Gnanasigamani², Gregory Nyman², and Elizabeth Morris^2
1Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, United States, ²Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, United States

Thirty eight patients with breast cancer, suspicious lesions or family history of disease were studied with multiple b-value diffusion-weighted MRI at 3 T. The intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) effect was observed in 11/13 of malignant lesions, in 1/8 benign lesion and in none of the 17 normal fibroglandular tissue regions of interest. In malignant lesions, the mean vascular fraction was 0.160.04 and the pseudodiffusion coefficient was (8.52.5)x10^-3 mm²/s. The IVIM effect in breast lesions is difficult to quantify reliably, but may add confidence in discrimination malignant lesions from benign lesions.

Araminta E. W. Ledger¹, Marco Borri¹, Maria Schmidt¹, Romney Pope², Erica Scurr¹, Toni Wallace¹, Cheryl Richardson², Marianne Usher², Steven Allen², Nandita deSouza¹, and Martin O. Leach^1
1CR-UK and EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre, Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom,²Department of Radiology, Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom

The classification of enhancement curves in dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) breast examinations requires image intensity approximately proportional to contrast agent concentration. We propose to evaluate the dynamic range in breast DCE retrospectively, by considering the enhancement of the internal mammary artery. This method was validated by comparing clinical examinations obtained with five different protocols (flip angles 10°, 14° and 18°, radial or linear k-space sampling). Significant differences were found between groups of 7-10 patients, in agreement with expected behaviour (greater dynamic range at higher flip angles, reduction in dynamic range for radial sampling protocols). Retrospective assessment is therefore a viable approach.

Manojkumar Saranathan¹, Dan W Rettmann², Brian A Hargreaves¹, Jafi Lipson¹, and Bruce Daniel^1
1Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States, ²Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Rochester, MN, United States

Dynamic-contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI is the primary approach for clinical breast imaging but is beset by the need for both high spatial and high temporal resolution [1-2], often resulting in suboptimal compromises. High temporal resolution is required for quantitative pharmacokinetic modeling whereas high spatial resolution is necessary for clear delineation of tumor morphology. We present clinical results from 20 patients of a new variable spatio-temporal resolution technique that seamlessly switches between the high temporal and high spatial resolution modes. Bilateral coverage with 0.9x0.9x1.2 mm spatial resolution was achieved, with the two modes having a temporal resolution of ~9s and ~120s respectively

Curtis Andrew Corum¹, Andrew Babcock², Djaudat Idiyatullin¹, Angela L. Styczynski-Snyder¹, Diane Hutter¹, Lenore Everson², Michael Nelson², and Michael Garwood^1
1CMRR, Radiology, Medical Shcool, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States, ²Radiology, Medical Shcool, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States

This paper is a feasibility study of SWeep Imaging with Fourier Transform (SWIFT) to detect breast pathology. An advantage of SWIFT is that the same scan data can be formatted into hight temporal resolution DCE and high spatial resolution morphological images. Three patients who underwent SWIFT imaging after clinical suspicion of breast pathology, but prior to biopsy, are presented. The following pathology was identified: ductal carcinoma in situ, fibroadenoma, and infiltrating ductal carcinoma. SWIFT MRI shows benign and malignant features similar to clinical DCE MRI and offers numerous advantages. Benefits include faster imaging with excellent spatial and temporal resolution, with reduced T2* effects.