Diagnostic potential of ultrafast contrast-enhanced MRI of the breast in hypervascularized lesions: are there advantages in comparison with standard dynamic MRI?
OBJECTIVE
Our goal was to evaluate possible diagnostic advantages of ultrafast MRI of the breast in comparison with dynamic MRI.


METHODS
Thirty patients with 35 hypervascularized lesions were selected prospectively after undergoing standard dynamic MRI (temporal resolution 87 s). Patients underwent additional ultrafast imaging (temporal resolution 2 s). Onset, rate, and pattern of enhancement were analyzed.


RESULTS
Histopathology revealed 15 malignant and 20 benign lesions (3-40 mm). Enhancement pattern was centripetal in 2 benign and 4 malignant lesions, centrifugal in 5 and 3, and homogeneous in 13 and 8. The onset of lesion enhancement ranged from 3 to 13 s (parenchymal enhancement 4-14 s) and the rate of enhancement from 3 to 70%/s, both without any correlation to the histologic diagnosis. There was no significant difference between ultrafast and standard dynamic MRI.


CONCLUSIONS
Ultrafast MRI does not provide additional information in comparison with standard dynamic MRI.
Department of Radiology, Klinikum der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany.
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Schorn
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Fischer
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Luftner-Nagel
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Grabbe
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies