title: Breast MRI background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) correlates with the risk of breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) and breast cancer would correlate searching for any significant difference of BPE pattern distribution in case of benign or malignant lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  386 patients, including 180 pre-menopausal (group 1) and 206 post-menopausal (group 2), underwent MR examination. Two radiologists evaluated MR images classifying normal BPE as minimal, mild, moderate or marked. The two groups of patients were subdivided into 3 categories based on MRI findings (negative, benign and malignant lesions). The distribution of BPE patterns within the two groups and within the three MR categories was calculated. The χ2 test was used to evaluate BPE type distribution in the three patient categories and any statistically significant correlation of BPE with lesion type was calculated. The Student t test was applied to search for any statistically significant difference between BPE type rates in group 1 and 2.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The χ2 test demonstrated a statistically significant difference in the distribution of BPE types in negative patients and benign lesions as compared with malignant ones (p<0.05). A significantly higher prevalence of moderate and marked BPE was found among malignant lesions (group 1: 32% and 42%, respectively; group 2: 31% and 46%, respectively) while a predominance of minimal and mild BPE among negative patients (group 1: 60% and 36%, respectively; group 2: 68% and 32%, respectively) and benign lesions (group 1: 54% and 38%, respectively; group 2: 75% and 17%, respectively) was found. The Student t test did not show a statistically significant difference between BPE type rates in group 1 and 2 (p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Normal BPE could correlate with the risk of breast cancer being such BPE patterns as moderate and marked associated with patients with malignant lesions in both pre and post-menopausal women.
authors.affiliation: DIM, Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, Section of Diagnostic Imaging, University of Bari Medical School.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Telegrafo
authors.affiliation: DIM, Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, Section of Diagnostic Imaging, University of Bari Medical School.
authors.forename: Leonarda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rella
authors.affiliation: DIM, Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, Section of Diagnostic Imaging, University of Bari Medical School.
authors.forename: Amato Antonio
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Stabile Ianora
authors.affiliation: DIM, Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, Section of Diagnostic Imaging, University of Bari Medical School.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Angelelli
authors.affiliation: DIM, Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, Section of Diagnostic Imaging, University of Bari Medical School. Electronic address: marco.moschetta@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moschetta
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013223:Statistics as Topic
keywords: BPE; Breast; Breast parenchymal enhancement; MRI