Non-mass-like enhancement on contrast-enhanced breast MR imaging: lesion characterization using combination of dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion-weighted MR images.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of a combination of dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging (DCE-MRI) and diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) in characterization of lesions showing non-mass-like enhancement on breast MR imaging and to find the strongest discriminators between carcinoma and benignancy.


METHODS
We analyzed consecutive MR images in 45 lesions showing non-mass like enhancement in 41 patients. We analyzed lesion size, distribution, internal enhancement, kinetic curve pattern, and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. We applied univariate and multivariate analyses to find the strongest indicators for malignancy. In a validation study, 22 non-mass-like enhancement lesions in 21 patients were examined. We calculated diagnostic accuracy when we presume category 4b, 4c, and 5 lesions as malignant or high to moderate suspicion for malignancy, and category 4a and 3 as low suspicion for malignancy or benign.


RESULTS
Segmental distribution (P=0.018), clumped internal enhancement (P=0.005), and ADC less than 1.3 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s (P=0.047) were the strongest MR indicators of malignancy. In a validation study, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy were 87% (13/15), 86% (6/7), 93% (13/14), 75% (6/8) and 86% (19/22), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The combination of DCE-MRI and DWI showed high diagnostic accuracy in characterization of non-mass-like enhancement lesions on breast MR images.
Department of Clinical Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. yabuuchi@radiol.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Hidetake
H
Yabuuchi
Yoshio
Y
Matsuo
Takeshi
T
Kamitani
Taro
T
Setoguchi
Takashi
T
Okafuji
Hiroyasu
H
Soeda
Shuji
S
Sakai
Masamitsu
M
Hatakenaka
Makoto
M
Kubo
Eriko
E
Tokunaga
Hidetaka
H
Yamamoto
Hiroshi
H
Honda
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003287:Contrast Media; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D003287:Contrast Media; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA