Lisa Loi1, Ferdinand Zimmermann2, Andreas Korzowski2, Jan-Eric Meissner2, Peter Bachert2, Mark Edward Ladd2, Heinz-Peter Schlemmer1, Sebastian Bickelhaupt3, Steffen Goerke2, Sarah Schott4, and Daniel Paech1
1Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany, 2Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany, 3German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany, 4Gynecology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
1Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany, 2Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany, 3German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany, 4Gynecology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
This study on relaxation-compensated, fat-/B1-corrected
APT MRI revealed significantly increased APT signals in breast cancers compared
to normal appearing breast tissue. Thus, APT MRI may allow distinguishing
between benign and malign breast tissue.
Fig.2: Five patients with newly-diagnosed
breast cancer (patient 1: high grade, patients 2-5: intermediate grade
intraductal breast cancer (IDH) of no special type) are presented. In all patients, strong gadolinium enhancement
was observed at 3 Tesla (T) MRI (Gadolinium-enhanced, fat-saturated T1-weighted
imaging and subtraction imaging, respectively). Additionally, T2-weighted TSE
images at 7T and APTAREX contrasts [%Hz] are shown. On APTAREX
contrasts, breast tumors could be clearly identified due to strong APT signal
hyperintensities.
Fig.3: Mean APTAREX values
of breast cancer tissue and normal appearing fibroglandular breast tissue are
shown. The APT CEST signal intensities were significantly increased in breast
cancer tissue compared of normal appearing fibroglandular breast tissue in both,
patients and healthy volunteers (*: p < 0.001).
