Diffusion tensor MRI: Preliminary anisotropy measures and mapping of breast tumors

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate whether diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures of anisotropy in breast tumors are different from normal breast tissue and can improve the discrimination between benign and malignant lesions. Materials and Methods:The study included 81 women with 105 breast lesions (76 malignant, 29 benign). DTI was performed during breast MRI examinations, and fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were measured for breast lesions and normal tissue in each subject. FA and ADC were compared between cancers, benign lesions, and normal tissue by univariate and multivariate analyses.Results: The FA of carcinomas (mean 6 SD: 0.24 6 0.07) was significantly lower than normal breast tissue in the same subjects (0.29 6 0.07; P < 0.0001). Multiple logistic regression showed that FA and ADC were each independent discriminators of malignancy (P < 0.0001), and that FA improved discrimination between cancer and normal tissue over ADC alone. However, there was no difference in FA between malignant and benign lesions (P ¼ 0.98).Conclusion: Diffusion anisotropy is significantly lower in breast cancers than normal tissue, which may reflect alterations in tissue organization. Our preliminary results suggest that FA adds incremental value over ADC alone for discriminating malignant from normal tissue but does not help with distinguishing benign from malignant lesions.

Anisotropy of Solid Breast Lesions in 2D Shear Wave Elastography is an Indicator of Malignancy

“…Previous studies have shown that evaluating the anisotropy may be helpful for benign/malignant differentiation [19 -22]. They found malignant lesions more anisotropic than benign lesions [19,21] which is in agreement with our results.…”

Diffusion tensor imaging of breast lesions: evaluation of apparent diffusion coefficient and fractional anisotropy and tissue cellularity

“…9,10 But, there is no report concerning the correlation between metrics of DTI and histology, such as cell density, in breast tumours in literature. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the ADC and FA measured by DTI, tissue cellularity and their relationship in breast malignant/benign lesions.…”

Tracking the Mammary Architectural Features and Detecting Breast Cancer with Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging

“…More recently, diffusion weighted MRI and the resulting maps of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) have been evaluated as a complement method to DCE-MRI and it was shown that ADC values can help distinguish between cancers, benign lesions and normal breast tissue 9,10 . In addition, studies of breast diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were initiated in healthy volunteers and patients with breast lesions at field strength of 1.5 T [11][12][13][14][15] and of 3 T [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] . Most of these studies reported ADC and fractional anisotropy (FA) values 11,12,14,15,[20][21][22][23] and found these two parameters to be reproducible with ADC values more reproducible than FA 13,20 .…”

“…In addition, studies of breast diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were initiated in healthy volunteers and patients with breast lesions at field strength of 1.5 T [11][12][13][14][15] and of 3 T [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] . Most of these studies reported ADC and fractional anisotropy (FA) values 11,12,14,15,[20][21][22][23] and found these two parameters to be reproducible with ADC values more reproducible than FA 13,20 . The results of these studies indicated that malignant lesions exhibit low ADC values as compared to normal tissue and benign lesions, however, conflicting results were reported on the values and diagnostic capability of FA 11,12,14,[20][21][22][23] .…”

“…Most of these studies reported ADC and fractional anisotropy (FA) values 11,12,14,15,[20][21][22][23] and found these two parameters to be reproducible with ADC values more reproducible than FA 13,20 . The results of these studies indicated that malignant lesions exhibit low ADC values as compared to normal tissue and benign lesions, however, conflicting results were reported on the values and diagnostic capability of FA 11,12,14,[20][21][22][23] . In a set of 3 T-DTI studies the values of the three tensor eigenvalues and eigenvectors in the breast tissue frame were reported as well, and the results were presented in vector maps of the main eigenvector and parametric maps of the eigenvalues, ADC, FA and a maximal anisotropy index [16][17][18][19]24 .…”