Improving the Specificity of High Resolution Breast MRI by Optimizing Data Acquisition Techniques and Diagnostic

摘要

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques have the potential to greatly improve breast cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment. Contrast- enhanced breast MRI has shown greater sensitivity than mammography in the detection of small breast lesions, and can also successfully image dense, augmented, and postoperative breasts. MRI is becoming a valuable tool in surgical planning and is additionally being investigated for monitoring tumor response to therapy. The purpose of this study is to develop and optimize new diagnostic models for improved discrimination of benign and malignant breast tissue. It is hypothesized that the addition of dynamic enhancement data from muscle and vessels to models which currently utilize only lesion enhancement information will improve tumor differentiation and will minimize patient to patient variations to improve the overall specificity of MRI in the detection of breast cancer. Breast MRI data acquisition techniques will be modified and patient data analyzed to provide optimal dynamic behavior information of the tissues. The performance of the resulting models will be evaluated and the increase in MRI specificity due to the application of optimized models will be quantified. The outcome of this work will contribute to the development of an accurate method of assessing tumor treatment response using MRI.