Estimation of T2*Relaxation Time of Breast Cancer: Correlation with Clinical, Imaging and Pathological Features

Objective: The purpose of this study was to estimate the T2* relaxation time in breast cancer, and to evaluate the association between the T2* value with clinical-imaging-pathological features of breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Between January 2011- and July 20-13,107 consecutive women with 107 breast cancers underwent multi-echo T2*-weighted imaging on a 3T clinical magnetic resonance imaging system. The Student's t test and one-way analysis of variance were used to compare the T2* values of cancer for different groups, based on the clinical-imaging pathological features. In addition, multiple Linear regression analysis was performed to find independent predictive factors associated with the T2* values. Results: Of the 107 breast cancers, 92 were invasive and 15 were ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The mean T2* value of invasive cancers was significantly longer than that of DCIS (p = 0.029). Signal intensity on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) and histologic grade of invasive breast cancers showed significant correlation with T2* relaxation time in univariate and multivariate analysis. Breast cancer groups with higher signal intensity on T2WI showed longer 12* relaxation time (p = 0.005). Cancer groups with higher histologic grade showed longer T2* relaxation time (p = 0.017). Conclusion: The T2* value is significantly longer in invasive cancer than in DCIS. In invasive cancers, 12* relaxation time is significantly longer in higher histologic grades and high signal intensity on T2WI. Based on these preliminary data, quantitative T2* mapping has the potential to be useful in the characterization of breast cancer.