Do we really need contrast agents?

Abstract

The exciting possibility of achieving diagnostic breast magnetic resonance examinations without administration of a contrast agent could make breast MRI a more accessible clinical tool, especially for screening applications. Eliminating the use of contrast would not only benefit the patient population for whom gadolinium contrast agents are contraindicated, but could facilitate and improve standard non-enhanced acquisitions acquired as part of a routine DCE-MRI study. Non-contrast examinations can be appropriate for either a screening or diagnostic application, and additional applications include parenchymal imaging for risk assessment and assessment of hormonal therapy response. Previous reports have investigated the use of diffusion-weighted and STIR imaging for non-contrast MR studies [1]. We have investigated the use of noncontrast enhanced high spectral and spatial resolution (HiSS) MRI. HiSS MRI technique improves image quality by eliminating some of the imaging side-effects of contrast agent administration which may affect lesion and/or parenchymal visualization, improving separation of fat and water signals, and reducing chemical shift blurring by imaging individual components of the water resonance. 1. Background