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Clinical quality of breath-held T1-weighted breast MRI in the supine position
Judith Zimmermann1, Jana Vincent2, Steven P Poplack1
1Stanford University, Department of Radiology, Stanford, CA, USA.
Objective:
Supine positioning for breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may increase patient comfort, shorten exam times, improve co-registration with other modalities, and provide better guidance for surgical planning. The objective of this study was to assess the clinical quality of a breath-held T1-weighted sequence as a feasible approach for supine contrast-enhanced breast MRI.
Methods:
At 3T, in 19 supine-positioned female breast cancer patients, we acquired a 3D T1-weighted Dixon gradient recalled echo sequence (LAVA), within ≤19s breath-hold to reduce respiratory motion, using a high-density body-conforming coil. The same subjects also underwent prone-positioned 3D T1-weighted Dixon breast MRI. Image quality was assessed by three radiologists, specifically regarding coverage, signal-to-noise, sharpness, and presence of artifacts. Reader scores were analyzed per reader with a proportion analysis.
Results:
Supine LAVA images showed sufficient quality to be interpretable, with 97% 'diagnostic' scores, compared to also 97% for prone images. A high parallel imaging factor (12×) was necessary to achieve adequate combined bilateral breast and axillary lymph node coverage.
Conclusion:
The proposed sequence presents a viable option to acquire diagnostic quality supine-positioned contrast-enhanced T1-weighted bilateral breast images.
