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Updated: Aug 2, 2025
Tracking the Mammary Architectural Features and Detecting Breast Cancer with Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Published on: December 15, 2014
Diffusion-time dependent diffusion MRI: effect of diffusion-time on microstructural mapping and prediction of
Ruicheng Ba1, Xiaoxia Wang2, Zelin Zhang1
1Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering & Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Room 525, Zhou Yiqing Building, Yuquan Campus, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
Objectives:
This study aimed to evaluate the effect of achievable td on the accuracy of microstructural mapping based on simulation and patient experiments, and investigate the feasibility of td-dMRI in distinguishing prognostic factors in breast cancer patients.
Methods:
Simulation was performed using different td settings. Patients with breast cancer were enrolled prospectively between November 2020 and January 2021, who underwent oscillating and pulsed gradient encoded dMRI on a 3-T scanner using short-/long-td protocol with oscillating frequency up to 50/33 Hz. Data were fitted with a two-compartment model to estimate cell diameter (d), intracellular fraction (fin), and diffusivities. Estimated microstructural markers were used to differentiate immunohistochemical receptor status and the presence of lymph node (LN), which were correlated with histopathological measurements.
Results:
Simulation results showed that d fitted from the short-td protocol significantly reduced estimation error than those from long-td (2.07 ± 1.51% versus 3.05 ± 1.92%, p < 0.0001) while the estimation error of fin was robust to different protocols. Among a total of 37 breast cancer patients, the estimated d was significantly higher in HER2-positive and LN-positive (p < 0.05) groups compared to their negative counterparts only using the short-td protocol. Histopathological validation in a subset of 6 patients with whole slide images showed the estimated d was highly correlated with measurements from H&E staining (r = 0.84, p = 0.03) only using the short-td protocol.
Conclusions:
The results indicated the necessity of short-td for accurate microstructural mapping in breast cancer. The current td-dMRI with a total acquisition time of 4.5 min showed its potential in the diagnosis of breast cancer.
Key Points:
• Short td is important for accurate microstructural mapping in breast cancer using the td-dMRI technique, based on simulation and histological validation. • The 4.5-min td-dMRI protocol showed potential clinical value for breast cancer, given the difference in cell diameter between HER2/LN positive and negative groups.
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