Breast imaging with ultra-low field MRI

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Radiology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Current breast cancer screening methods have limitations including cost, accessibility, and ionizing radiation exposure.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a radiation-free alternative but faces challenges with cost, availability, and contrast agent requirements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the feasibility of ultra-low field (ULF) unilateral breast MRI for screening applications.
• To evaluate ULF MRI's ability to visualize breast tissue and post-surgical changes.

Main Methods:

• Performed ULF unilateral breast MRI on 11 healthy women in a prone position.
• Assessed the ability of three breast radiologists to delineate breast outlines and identify tissue patterns.
• Evaluated ULF MRI in patients with prior breast cancer to assess artifacts and post-surgical changes, and in a patient with a cyst.

Main Results:

• Radiologists could reliably delineate breast outlines and distinguish between fibroglandular and adipose tissue.
• Consistent identification of various breast tissue patterns (fatty, scattered, heterogeneous, extreme FGT).
• ULF MRI effectively eliminated artifacts from surgical clips, visualized post-surgical changes, and identified a large cyst.

Conclusions:

• Technical feasibility of ULF breast MRI for screening has been established.
• Preliminary findings support ULF MRI as a potential alternative for breast cancer screening.
• Further development and evaluation are needed to define ULF MRI's capabilities and limitations.