In Vivo Microscopic MR Imaging of Breast Lesions

摘要

This study explored whether microscopic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) couldhelp determine the nature of suspicious breast lesions. After mammography identifies a suspicious lesion, there is currently no reliable, noninvasive way to determine whether the lesion is malignant, which results in unnecessary biopsies. In this study, we developed a special set-up, to be used in a GIS Signa 1.5F magnet. The breast was gently compressed and small receiver coils were used to detect the MR signal to produce very high resolution images of the breast lesions. Using these coils, as well as a contrast agent, several types of images were obtained for all patients. There were 10 patients, all of whom underwent biopsies, and the biopsy results were compared with the acquired images. The resolution was sufficient to be able to characterize the structure of the lesions. The most significant difference between the two types of lesions was the border appearance of each lesion. Benign lesions had smooth edges and malignant lesions had infiltrating edges. Very high resolution MRI could help to diagnose suspicious lesions and reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies.