Establishment of breast non-contrast imaging protocol with MR conductivity mapping

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K17159
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 52040:Radiological sciences-related
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Maaekawa Yui 東北大学, 大学病院, 医員 (60644698)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 乳癌 / MRI / 非造影 / 良悪性 / 鑑別

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Conductivity is a physical property that expresses the ease of electrical conduction in a material, and is expressed in S/m (siemens per meter). Recently, a method to calculate conductivity noninvasively from MRI phase images has been reported and is called magnetic resonance electronic property tomography (MREPT). The applicant and his colleagues conducted an initial study of MREPT using turbo spin echo (TSE) phase images of the mammary gland and confirmed that conductivity was significantly higher in malignant lesions than in benign lesions. In comparison with dynamic-contrast enhanced (DCE)-MRI, the diagnostic performance of MREPT was similar or slightly inferior to that of DCE-MRI.

Free Research Field

乳癌画像診断

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

近年，ガドリニウム製剤の投与には問題が生じている．ガドリニウム製剤の投与回数と脳の歯状核および淡蒼球のT1強調画像での信号強度増加に相関があることが報告され，その後ガドリニウム製剤が神経系組織に蓄積することも報告された．我々はMREPTが非造影で乳房良悪性腫瘍を鑑別することが可能なシーケンスであることを確認した．