Temperature dependence of the magnetic volume susceptibility of human breast fat tissue: an NMR study

Proton resonance frequency shift (PRFS)-based MR thermometry (MRT) is hampered by heat-induced susceptibility changes when applied in tissues containing fat, e.g., the human breast. In order to assess the impact of fat susceptibility changes on PRFS-based MRT during thermal therapy in the human breast, reliable knowledge of the temperature dependence of the magnetic volume susceptibility of fat, dχ(fat)/dT, is a prerequisite. In this work we have measured dχ(fat)/dT of human breast fat tissue, using a double-reference method to ensure invariance to temperature-induced changes in the proton electron screening constant.

Ex vivo measurements were taken on a 14.1 T five mm narrow bore NMR spectrometer. Breast fat tissue samples were collected from six subjects, directly postmortem. The susceptibility was measured over a temperature range from 24°C to 65°C.

A linear behavior of the susceptibility over temperature was observed for all samples. The resulting dχ(fat)/dT of human breast fat ranged between 0.0039 and 0.0076 ppm/°C.

It is concluded that the impact of heat-induced susceptibility changes of fat during thermal therapy in the breast may not be neglected.