Comparing average breast fat content results from two different protocols at 1.5T and 3T: can the data be pooled?

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Quantitative MRI

Background:

• Accurate breast fat quantification is crucial for various clinical applications.
• Differences in MRI scanner hardware and acquisition protocols can lead to variability in fat content measurements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare total breast fat content derived from two distinct MRI protocols.
• To establish a relationship for pooling data from studies with different scanners and protocols.

Main Methods:

• Twelve healthy women underwent MRI using two protocols with differing vendors, field strengths (1.5T vs. 3T), pulse sequences, and fat/water separation techniques.
• Breast tissue was extracted slice-wise from water and fat maps.
• Percent fat content was calculated per breast for each subject.

Main Results:

• A strong correlation (R² > 0.99) was observed between fat content measurements from the two protocols.
• Protocol 1 showed an overestimation of fat content compared to Protocol 2.
• A proposed T2 TE-correction for Protocol 1 enhanced correlation and reduced discrepancies.

Conclusions:

• Total breast fat content from healthy women can be pooled across different MRI protocols using a linear relationship.
• The T2 TE-corrected Protocol 1 is expected to provide accurate fat content measurements, facilitating data integration.