title: Quantification of background enhancement in breast magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present a novel technique for measuring tissue enhancement in breast fibroglandular tissue regions on contrast-enhanced breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) aimed at quantifying the enhancement of breast parenchyma, also known as "background enhancement."
  
  
  METHODS
  Our quantitative method for measuring breast MRI background enhancement was evaluated in a population of 16 healthy volunteers. We also demonstrate the use of our new technique in the case study of one subject classified as high risk for developing breast cancer who underwent 3 months of tamoxifen therapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We obtained quantitative measures of background enhancement in all cases. The high-risk patient exhibited a 37% mean reduction in background enhancement with treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our quantitative method is a robust and promising tool that may allow investigators to quantify and document the potential adverse effect of background enhancement on diagnostic accuracy in larger populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94115-1667, USA. Catherine.Klifa@radiology.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Klifa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aliu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wilmes
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Newitt
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Joe
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hylton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D002285:Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013629:Tamoxifen / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D013629:Tamoxifen