Combination of chemical suppression techniques for dual suppression of fat and silicone at diffusion-weighted MR imaging in women with breast implants

摘要

Objectives: Silicone breast prostheses prove technically challenging when performing diffusion-weighted MR imaging in the breasts. We describe a combined fat and chemical suppression scheme to achieve dual suppression of fat and silicone, thereby improving the quality of diffusionweighted images in women with breast implants. Methods: MR imaging was performed at 3.0 and 1.5 T in women with silicone breast implants using short-tau inversion recovery (STIR) fat-suppressed echo-planar (EPI) diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) on its own and combined with the slice-select gradient-reversal (SSGR) technique. Imaging was performed using dedicated breast imaging coils. Results: Complete suppression of the fat and silicone signal was possible at 3.0 T using EPI DWI with STIR and SSGR, evaluated with dedicated breast coils. However, a residual silicone signal was still perceptible at 1.5 T using this combined approach. Nevertheless, a further reduction in silicone signal at 1.5 T could be achieved by employing thinner slice partitions and the addition of the chemicalselective fat-suppression (CHESS) technique. Conclusions: DWI using combined STIR and SSGR chemical suppression techniques is feasible to eliminate or reduce silicone signal from prosthetic breast implants. Key Points: ? Breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is frequently needed following breast implants ? Unsuppressed signal from silicone creates artefacts on diffusion-weighted MR sequences ? Dual fat/chemical suppression can eliminate signal from fat and silicone ? STIR with slice selective gradient reversal can suppress fat and silicone signal.