Dynamic MR mammography: three-dimensional real-time visualization of contrast enhancement in virtual reality

In view of the increasing use of breast magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to supplement x-ray mammography. the authors developed a method for fast and efficient analysis of dynamic MR images of the female breast.

The MR image data sets were acquired with a saturation-recovery turbo fast low-angle shot sequence to detect the kinetics of the contrast agent concentration in the whole breast at a high temporal and spatial resolution. A morphologic three-dimensional fast low-angle shot data set was also acquired. The dynamic image data sets were analyzed with tracer kinetic modeling to describe the physiologic processes underlying the contrast enhancement in mathematical terms and enable the estimation of functional tissue-specific parameters, which reflect the status of microcirculation. To display morphologic and functional tissue information simultaneously, the authors developed a multidimensional real-time visualization system (with three-dimensional texture mapping), which enables a practical and intuitive human computer interface in virtual reality.

The spatially differentiated representation of the computed functional tissue parameters superimposed on the anatomic information offers several possibilities: (a) more discernible contrast enhancement, (b) inspection of the data volume in three-dimensional space by means of rotation and transparency variation, (c) location of lesions in space and thus faster and more natural recognition of topologic coherencies, and (d) fast and efficient overview in compressed form.

A feasibility study demonstrated that multidimensional visualization of contrast enhancement in virtual reality is a practicable idea. Detection and location of multiple breast lesions may be an important application.