Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Breast: a Pilot Study

Overview

Journal Eur Radiol

Specialty Radiology

Date 2010 Jul 30

PMID 20668860

Citations 45

Authors

Pascal A T Baltzer

Anja Schafer

Matthias Dietzel

David Grassel

Mieczyslaw Gajda

Oumar Camara

Werner A Kaiser

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: Diffusion-weighted MR imaging has shown diagnostic value for differential diagnosis of breast lesions. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) adds information about tissue microstructure by addressing diffusion direction. We have examined the diagnostic application of DTI of the breast.

Methods: A total of 59 patients (71 lesions: 54 malignant, 17 benign) successfully underwent prospective echo planar imaging-DTI (EPI-DTI) (1.5 T). First, diffusion direction both of parenchyma as well as lesions was assessed on parametric maps. Subsequently, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) values were measured. Statistics included univariate (Mann-Whitney U test, receiver operating analysis) and multivariate (logistic regression analysis, LRA) tests.

Results: Main diffusion direction of parenchyma was anterior-posterior in the majority of cases (66.1%), whereas lesions (benign, malignant) showed no predominant diffusion direction in the majority of cases (23.9%). ADC values showed highest differences between benign and malignant lesions (P<0.001) with resulting area under the curve (AUC) of 0.899. FA values were lower in benign (interquartile range, IR, 0.14-0.24) compared to malignant lesions (IR 0.21-0.35, P<0.002) with an AUC of 0.751-0.770. Following LRA, FA did not prove to have incremental value for differential diagnosis over ADC values.

Conclusions: Microanatomical differences between benign and malignant breast lesions as well as breast parenchyma can be visualized by using DTI.

Citing Articles

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Diffusion Tensor Imaging for Characterizing Changes in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer During Neoadjuvant Systemic Therapy.

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The road to breast cancer screening with diffusion MRI.

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