Marko K Ivancevic PhD, Presenter: Employee, Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV

Holger Eggers PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Employee, Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV

Gwenael H Herigault PhD, Dipl Eng, Abstract Co-Author: Employee, Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV

Gillian Maclaine Newstead MD, Abstract Co-Author: Consultant, Naviscan, Inc Consultant, Bayer AG Spouse, stockholder, Hologic, Inc

Hiroyuki Abe MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Gregory Stanislaus Karczmar PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Research Consultant, Perceptive Informatics, Inc Research Consultant, BioClinica, Inc

In this pilot study, we demonstrate enhanced fat suppression using multiple peak spectral model in high resolution mDIXON breast imaging at 3T. References: (1) Eggers H, et al Magn Reson Med 2011; 65:96-107, (2)Perkins TG, Proc ISMRM 2010; 556.

A dual-echo Dixon imaging technique with flexible echo times (mDIXON) has recently been introduced (1) and applied in abdominal body imaging (2) where high resolution water images with improved signal-to-noise ratio and scan-time efficiency were attained using shortest possible echo times. mDIXON may also be of potential benefit in breast imaging for a homogeneous water/fat separation over a large field of view. However, higher spatial resolution and volume coverage are required in comparison to abdominal imaging. The higher resolution increases the shortest possible echo times, which could lead to suboptimal fat suppression using a single-peak spectral model of fat (1). In this work we evaluated mDIXON using multi-peak reconstruction for optimized water/fat separation in very high (sub millimetric) resolution imaging of the breast at 3 T.

Post-contrast mDIXON images were acquired in 4 patients on a 3T Achieva TX MR system (Philips Healthcare) with a 16-channel breast coil, shortest possible TE and 0.8 in-plane resolution. On the same set of acquired images,  fat suppression was evaluated between the single-peak and multiple-peak reconstructed mDIXON images. Chest muscle to fat (SImuscle-SIfat)/SIfatx100% and parenchyma to fat (SIparenchyma – SIfat)/SIfatx100% signal ratios were evaluated in 20 ROIs. The muscle-fat ratio was 91% (±48%) in single peak mDIXON images compared to 276% (±125%) for multiple-peak  (p < 0.0068). The parenchyma-fat ratios were 135% (±89%) and 364% (±158%) respectively (p < 0.01) for single-peak and multiple-peak.

Dual-echo mDIXON with shortest possible echo times allowed to perform time-efficient sub-millimetric breast imaging with uniform fat saturation over a large field of view (fig 1). Single peak reconstruction did not produce optimal fat suppression given the constraints of high resolution on echo times. A higher degree of fat suppression was obtained with multiple-peak reconstruction.

Ivancevic, M, Eggers, H, Herigault, G, Newstead, G, Abe, H, Karczmar, G, Multiple Peak Technique with Flexible Echo Times for MR Imaging of the Breast at 3 T.  Radiological Society of North America 2011 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 26 - December 2, 2011 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2011/11009616.html