Savannah Partridge

Jose R. Teruel^1,2, Gene Y. Cho^3,4, Jason Ostenson⁴, Melanie Moccaldi⁵, Joon Lee⁵, Pål E. Goa^2,6, Tone F. Bathen¹, Sungheon G. Kim^3,4, Linda Moy^4,5, and Eric E. Sigmund^3,4
1Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, ²St.Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway, ³Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAI2R), New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States, ⁴Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States, ⁵Cancer Institute, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, United States, ⁶Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

The purpose of this study is to characterize the length scales of breast tissue using a stimulated echo acquisition mode (STEAM) diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) sequence with variable diffusion times. The evolution of the radial diffusivity with diffusion time was used to calculate the surface-to-volume ratio applying the Mitra early time limit model. This analysis may provide an in vivo non-invasive tool to probe diffusion lengths in healthy and pathological breast tissue.

Patrick J Bolan¹, Steen Moeller¹, Gregory J Metzger¹, Edward J Auerbach¹, Christophe Lenglet¹, Dingxin Wang^1,2, Peter Kollasch², Vibhas Deshpande², Sudhir Ramanna¹, Michael T Nelson¹, Kamil Ugurbil¹, and Essa Yacoub^1
1Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States, ²Siemens Healthcare, Minneapolis, MN, United States

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is increasingly being used for diagnosing and monitoring treatment response in breast cancer. The spin-echo EPI sequence commonly used for DWI is, however, prone to artifacts from B₀ offsets and fat, leading to distortions and artifacts in breast imaging. In this work we use a multi-band accelerated pulse sequence to acquire sagittally, and then reformat to produce the axial images desired for interpretation. This approach produces breast diffusion images with reduced distortion, chemical shift artifacts, and improved effective resolution in all three dimensions.

Valentina Taviani¹, Marcus T. Alley¹, Suchandrima Banerjee², Bruce L. Daniel¹, and Brian A. Hargreaves^1
1Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States, ²Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Menlo Park, CA, United States

We developed a novel technique for high-resolution bilateral diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the breast that allows the same resolution and similar image quality as clinically available reduced-FOV methods. The longer scan time necessary for the extended coverage was less than 5 minutes for aquisition of images with 2 b-values. With respect to conventional DWI, the proposed technique offers improved anatomical delineation, reduced distortion and more robust fat suppression.

Jose R. Teruel^1,2, Pål E. Goa^3,4, Torill E. Sjøbakk¹, Agnes Østlie⁴, Hans E. Fjøsne^5,6, and Tone F. Bathen^1
1Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, ²St.Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway, ³Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, ⁴Radiology, St.Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway, ⁵Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, ⁶Surgery, St.Olavs Hospital, Trondheim, Norway

In this study, we have explored the feasibility of obtaining a diffusion weighted imaging derived parameter sensitive to blood microcirculation employing only two non-zero b-values. This new parameter, relative enhanced diffusivity (RED), presented a high correlation with the initial area under the curve parameter derived from dynamic contrast enhanced MRI kinetic curve, and improved lesion differentiation compared with the standard apparent diffusion coefficient.

Peter Gibbs¹, Martin Pickles¹, and Lindsay Turnbull^1
1Centre for MR Investigations, University of Hull, Hull, East Yorkshire, United Kingdom

The efficacy of empirical parameter map based texture analysis as a method of predicting tumour response prior to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy is explored in a cohort of breast cancer patients with locally advanced disease. Analysis of washout slope maps revealed significant differences for 12 out of 16 textural parameters. Subsequent decision tree analysis utilised 5 parameters (f2, f3, f5, f11 and f16) obtaining a classification accuracy of 82%.

Araminta EW Ledger¹, Maria A Schmidt¹, Marco Borri¹, Steven Allen², Elizabeth AM O'Flynn², Romney J Pope², Erica D Scurr², Nandita deSouza¹, Robin Wilson², and Martin O Leach^1
1CR-UK Cancer Imaging Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom, ²Radiology, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom

Background Parenchymal Enhancement (BPE) following contrast agent (CA) administration in DCE-MRI breast examinations may be related to breast cancer risk. However, BPE is typically evaluated via visual assessment of subtracted images where signal intensity changes are dependent on native T1 relaxation times. Instead, the difference in relaxivity (ΔR1) provides a measure directly proportional to CA uptake. We evaluated objective BPE measures, including ΔR1 and a normalized parenchymal enhancement coefficient (PEC), and compared these measures against relative enhancement (RE). Evaluation of ΔR1 provides an objective and translatable BPE measure which should be utilized for risk assessment in longitudinal and multicenter studies.

Martin D Pickles¹, Peter Gibbs¹, Martin Lowry¹, and Lindsay W Turnbull^1
1Centre for Magnetic Resonance Investigations, Hull York Medical School at University of Hull, Hull, East Yorkshire, United Kingdom

The aims of this study were to determine if any associations exist between MR parameters and survival intervals; and to compare the prognostic value of MR parameters against traditional survival indicators. Size, vascular, texture and shape parameters were obtained from dynamic breast MR datasets in 81 individuals. Survival analysis demonstrated that MR parameters (textural and shape) can provide independent prognostic information that can complement traditional prognostic indicators. Further it seems that MR parameters may have a role to play in treatment stratification for breast cancer patients since these survival associations are evident prior to the initiation of neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment.

Alexander M. Th. Schmitz¹, Wouter B. Veldhuis¹, Marian B.E. Menke-Pluijmers², Wybe J.M. van der Kemp¹, Tijl A. van der Velden¹, Marc C.J.M. Kock³, Pieter J. Westenend⁴, Dennis W.J. Klomp¹, and Kenneth G.A. Gilhuijs^1
1Department of Radiology/Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands, ²Department of Surgery, Albert Schweitzer Hospital, Dordrecht, Netherlands, ³Department of Radiology, Albert Schweitzer Hospital, Dordrecht, Netherlands, ⁴Department of Pathology, Albert Schweitzer Hospital, Dordrecht, Netherlands

Breast cancer therapy would benefit from more accurate tumor characterization early in therapy, especially concerning tumor proliferation. MRI may provide additional information early in treatment. In-vivo characterization using DWI and MRS may be beneficial, but the ability of 1.5 and 3T MRI systems to provide clinically useful information is limited by their sensitivity. In this study, a 7T breast MRI multi-protocol was developed including DCE-MRI, DWI and ³¹P-MRS. Fifteen women were included with 17 malignant lesions. First explorations in correlation with histopathology show potential of DWI and ³¹P-MRS to visualize biomarkers of tumor proliferation.

Olgica Zaric¹, Katja Pinker - Domenig², Stefan Zbyn¹, Thomas Helbich², Alex Farr³, Christian Singer³, Siegfried Trattnig¹, and Wolfgang Bogner^1
1High Field MR Center, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, ²Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, ³Gynecology Department, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, Austria

Tissue sodium concentration (TSC) could be considered as a sensitive biomarker that provides non-invasive information on the changes in malignant tissue such as angiogenesis and cellular proliferation. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of quantitative high-resolution sodium (23Na)- MRI in breast tumor patients at 7.0 T. Reproducible good image quality in clinically feasible time was achieved. Our results showed excellent differentiation between breast lesions (TSC showed 40% higher values in malignant then in benign tumors). We believe that 23Na combined with other MRI techniques, has a great potential in breast tumors detection and characterization.