Background
Breast cancer screening with dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) is recommended for high-risk women but has limitations, including variable specificity and difficulty in distinguishing cancerous (CL) and high-risk benign lesions (HRBL) from average-risk benign lesions (ARBL). Complementary non-invasive imaging techniques would be useful to improve specificity.
Purpose
To evaluate the performance of a previously-developed breast-specific diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) model (BS-RSI3C) to improve discrimination between CL, HRBL, and ARBL in an enriched screening population.
Study type
Prospective.
Subjects
Exactly 187 women, either with mammography screening recommending additional imaging (N = 49) or high-risk individuals undergoing routine breast MRI (N = 138), before the biopsy.
Field strength/sequence
Multishell DW-MRI echo planar imaging sequence with a reduced field of view at 3.0 T.
Assessment
A total of 72 women had at least one biopsied lesion, with 89 lesions categorized into ARBL, HRBL, CL, and combined CLs and HRBLs (CHRLs). DW-MRI data were processed to produce apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps, and estimate signal contributions (C
1, C
2, and C
3-restricted, hindered, and free diffusion, respectively) from the BS-RSI3C model. Lesion regions of interest (ROIs) were delineated on DW images based on suspicious DCE-MRI findings by two radiologists; control ROIs were drawn in the contralateral breast.
Statistical tests
One-way ANOVA and two-sided t-tests were used to assess differences in signal contributions and ADC values among groups. P-values were adjusted using the Bonferroni method for multiple testing, P = 0.05 was used for the significance level. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves and intra-class correlations (ICC) were also evaluated.
Results
C
1, √C
1C
2, and logC1C2C3 were significantly different in HRBLs compared with ARBLs (P-values < 0.05). The logC1C2C3 had the highest AUC (0.821) in differentiating CHRLs from ARBLs, performing better than ADC (0.696), especially in non-mass enhancement (0.776 vs. 0.517).
Data conclusion
This study demonstrated the BS-RSI3C could differentiate HRBLs from ARBLs in a screening population, and separate CHRLs from ARBLs better than ADC.
Level of evidence: 1
Technical efficacy stage
2.