Clinical application of bilateral high temporal and spatial resolution dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the breast at 7 T

Abstract

The objective of our study was to evaluate the clinical application of bilateral high spatial and temporal resolution dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (HR DCE-MRI) of the breast at 7T. Following institutional review board approval 23 patients with a breast lesion (BIRADS 0, 4-5) were included in our prospective study. All patients underwent bilateral HR DCE-MRI of the breast at 7T (spatial resolution of 0.7mm(3) voxel size, temporal resolution of 14s). Two experienced readers (r1, r2) and one less experienced reader (r3) independently assessed lesions according to BI-RADS®. Image quality, lesion conspicuity and artefacts were graded from 1 to 5. Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy were assessed using histopathology as the standard of reference. HR DCE-MRI at 7T revealed 29 lesions in 23 patients (sensitivity 100% (19/19); specificity of 90% (9/10)) resulting in a diagnostic accuracy of 96.6% (28/29) with an AUC of 0.95. Overall image quality was excellent in the majority of cases (27/29) and examinations were not hampered by artefacts. There was excellent inter-reader agreement for diagnosis and image quality parameters (κ = 0.89-1). Bilateral HR DCE-MRI of the breast at 7T is feasible with excellent image quality in clinical practice and allows accurate breast cancer diagnosis. • Dynamic contrast-enhanced 7-T MRI is being developed in several centres. • Bilateral high resolution DCE-MRI of the breast at 7T is clinically applicable. • 7-T HR DCE-MRI of the breast provides excellent image quality. • 7-T HR DCE-MRI should detect breast cancer with high diagnostic accuracy.