title: Evaluation of quantitative parametric analysis for characterization of breast lesions in contrast-enhanced MR mammography.
abstract: Our aim was to evaluate quantitative parametric analysis for characterization of breast lesions in contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) mammography. In 62 patients, contrast-enhanced MR mammography revealed 75 suspicious lesions, of which 18 were benign and 57 were malignant. The quantitative parametric analysis delineates signal intensity changes of contrast-enhanced lesions on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The initial rate of enhancement is coded by color intensity: a slow rate is coded to dark; a fast rate, bright. The postinitial enhancement change is coded by color hue: blue for increasing signal intensity, green for plateau, and red for decrease in signal intensity. Malignant lesions showed a significantly higher number of bright-red (P = 0.004) and medium-red (P < 0.001) pixels than benign lesions. Benign lesions showed significantly more blue pixels than did malignant lesions (P = 0.010). Of the 75 lesions, 72 (96%) showed heterogeneous distribution of pixel color hue. Quantitative parametric analysis of contrast kinetics in lesions can replace the subjective manual region of interest (ROI) method and makes a step toward standardization of MR mammography. It allows quantitative evaluation of different contrast kinetics parameters in contrast-enhanced breast lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, Hufelandstr 55, 45122 Essen, Germany. elke.hauth@uni-essen.de
authors.forename: E A M
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Hauth
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jaeger
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maderwald
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stockamp
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mühler
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kimmig
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Forsting
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003116:Color; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012984:Software; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA