Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 May;33(5):1229-34.
doi: 10.1002/jmri.22545.

Quantification of background enhancement in breast magnetic resonance imaging

C Klifa  1 , S Suzuki, S Aliu, L Singer, L Wilmes, D Newitt, B Joe, N Hylton
Affiliations

Quantification of background enhancement in breast magnetic resonance imaging

C Klifa et al. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2011 May.

Abstract

Purpose: 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."

Materials and 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.

Conclusion: 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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Background enhancement in the left breast of pre-menopausal woman with a history of right breast DCIS. a) T1-weighted axial MR image of the left breast before contrast injection; b) first post-injection acquisition showing regions of enhancement in the breast parenchyma. Biopsy showed no breast carcinoma.
Figure 2
Figure 2
a) Delineation of the whole breast volume from non-contrast MRI data; b) Fibroglandular tissue volume extracted from the original non-contrast MRI (a).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Sagittal images of a normal volunteer with low 3D MR density: a) Pre-contrast; b) Segmented fibroglandular tissue; c) First post-contrast image with overlaid ROI from the tissue mask; d) PE map.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Percent enhancement found at all densities in 16 healthy volunteers. The arrow indicates the volunteer whose images were used in Figure 3.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Change in background enhancement in a high-risk woman who underwent 3 months of tamoxifen treatment. a) Baseline Maximum Intensity Projection (MIP) image; b) MIP after 3-month tamoxifen treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Esserman L, Hylton N, Yassa L, Barclay J, Frankel S, Sickles E. Utility of magnetic resonance imaging in the management of breast cancer: evidence for improved preoperative staging. J Clin Oncol. 1999;17(1):110–119. - PubMed
    1. Wolmark N, Wang J, Mamounas E, Bryant J, Fisher B. Preoperative chemotherapy in patients with operable breast cancer: nine-year results from National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project B-18. J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 2001;30:96–102. - PubMed
    1. Partridge SC, Gibbs JE, Lu Y, Esserman LJ, Sudilovsky D, Hylton NM. Accuracy of MR imaging for revealing residual breast cancer in patients who have undergone neoadjuvant chemotherapy. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2002;179(5):1193–1199. - PubMed
    1. Peters NH, Borel Rinkes IH, Zuithoff NP, Mali WP, Moons KG, Peeters PH. Meta-analysis of MR imaging in the diagnosis of breast lesions. Radiology. 2008;246(1):116–124. - PubMed
    1. American College of Radiology (ACR) Breast Imaging Atlas. 4th ed. Reston, VA: 2003. ACR Breast Imaging Reporting and Data Systems.

Publication types