Comparison of contrast enhancement and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in healthy and cancerous breast tissue

Objective: To measure background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) and compare with other contrast enhancement values and diffusion-weighted MRI parameters in healthy and cancerous breast tissue at the clinical level. Materials and methods: This HIPAA-compliant, IRB approved retrospective study enrolled 77 patients (38 patients with breast cancer - mean age 51.8 +/- 10.0 years; 39 high-risk patients for screening evaluation - mean age 46.3 +/- 11.7 years), who underwent contrast-enhanced 3T breast MRI. Contrast enhanced MRI and diffusion-weighted imaging were performed to quantify BPE, lesion contrast enhancement, and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) metrics in fibroglandular tissue (FGT) and lesions. Results: BPE did not correlate with ADC values. Mean BPE for the lesion-bearing patients was higher (43.9%) compared to that of the high-risk screening patients (28.3%, p = 0.004). Significant correlation (r = 0.37, p < 0.05) was found between BPE and lesion contrast enhancement. Conclusion: No significant association was observed between parenchymal or lesion enhancement with conventional apparent diffusion metrics, suggesting that proliferative processes are not co-regulated in cancerous and parenchymal tissue. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.