Multiple parameters from ultrafast dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging to discriminate between...

The purpose of this study was first to assess the diagnostic performance of ultrafast dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) parameters compared to apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) for distinguishing benign from malignant breast lesions and second to investigate the complementarity of ultrafast DCE-MRI with DWI in that task.

A total of 142 women (mean age, 48.42 ± 11.03 [SD]) years; range: 14-78 years) with 150 breast lesions who underwent breast ultrafast DCE-MRI were prospectively recruited. Ultrafast DCE-MRI semi-quantitative parameters (maximum slope [MS], time to peak [TTP], time to enhancement [TTE], and initial area under curve in 60 s [iAUC]), ultrafast DCE-MRI quantitative parameters (K_ep, K_trans, and V_e), and the ADC were estimated and compared between benign and malignant breast lesions. Classification performances were assessed using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and compared using Delong test.

The ultrafast DCE-MRI semi-quantitative multiparameters (AUC, 0.913; 95% CI: 0.856-0.953) showed better classification performance than the quantitative multiparameters (AUC, 0.818; 95% CI: 0.747-0.876) (P = 0.022). No differences in AUC were found between ultrafast DCE-MRI semi-quantitative multiparameters and ADC (AUC, 0.912; 95% CI: 0.855-0.952) (P = 0.990). The combination of ultrafast DCE-MRI semi-quantitative multiparameters and ADC (AUC, 0.960; 95% CI: 0.915-0.985) showed better classification performance than the ultrafast DCE-MRI semi-quantitative multiparameters (P = 0.014) and quantitative multiparameters (P < 0.001).

Ultrafast DCE-MRI can be used as an accurate method for discriminating benign from malignant breast lesions. The combination of ultrafast DCE-MRI and DWI significantly increases the diagnostic value of ultrafast DCE-MRI.