MR Tomography Helps Objectively Determine Breast Density

An automated user-independent breast density (BD) measurement system based on magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) could provide diagnosis and risk assessment.

Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna (Austria) investigated the use of an automated user-independent quantitative volumetric (AUQV) MRT measurement system to compare it with qualitative and quantitative mammographic BD measurements. The study involved 43 women with normal mammogram results who were subjected to BD assessment with MRT using the Dixon technique; to test reproducibility, a second MRT after patient repositioning was performed. The system automatically calculated BD percentage.

Qualitative and quantitative BD was estimated semi-automatically using a thresholding technique, and statistical tests were used to assess the agreement between the two AUQV MRT measurements and compare them with qualitative and quantitative MG BD estimations. The results showed a nearly perfect agreement of AUQV MR BD measurements between the 2 MRT examinations, which were significantly lower than quantitative and qualitative MG BD assessment. The study was presented at the European Congress of Radiologists (ECR), held during March 2016 in Vienna (Austria).

“It works practically at the touch of a button and only takes a few minutes. There is also no need to provide contrast material,” said lead author and study presenter Georg Wengert, MD, of the department of radiology and nuclear medicine at the Medical University of Vienna. “For the first time worldwide, an objective measurement of breast density with fully automatic software and higher precision and reproducibility has been detected with this method, and a prototype currently exists.”

Breast density is divided into four categories according to the guidelines of the American College of Radiology (ACR). Ranging from A to D, the risk of getting breast cancer is considered to be four to six times higher for a higher BD (C/heterogeneous and D/extremely dense). The density cannot be precisely measured using mammography and an ultrasound scan, and additionally a high breast density makes diagnosis more difficult.

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Medical University of Vienna