Diagonal DWI : A Time‐Efficient Alternative to 3‐Scan Trace DWI for Breast Lesion Evaluation at 3.0‐T MRI —A Phantom Study and Clinical Assessment

Le résumé fourni par la source

BACKGROUND: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in breast MRI requires balancing image quality with acquisition time. Reducing scan time without sacrificing diagnostic performance could improve patient comfort and workflow. PURPOSE: To compare 3-scan trace DWI (tDWI) and diagonal DWI (dDWI) for breast lesion evaluation using both phantom and clinical assessments, focusing on image quality metrics and diagnostic performance. STUDY TYPE: Retrospective comparative study. POPULATION: A commercially available breast diffusion phantom (Caliber MRI; Boulder, CO, USA) and 92 consecutive participants were initially enrolled. After excluding 23 due to having no confirmed lesion, and 15 with non-mass lesions, 54 patients (median age 55.5 years, range 21-82) were analyzed. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 3-T, tDWI (120 s) and dDWI (74 s) with identical parameters except for diffusion gradient directions, with dDWI reducing scan time by 38%. ASSESSMENT: Phantom studies measured apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and estimated signal-to-noise ratio (eSNR). Clinical studies evaluated ADC, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and contrast ratio (CR) from ROIs in lesions, normal breast tissue, and fat. Three radiologists scored lesion conspicuity and image quality. STATISTICAL TESTS: Due to non-normal data distribution, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test compared metrics between sequences. The ADC coefficient of variation (CV) was calculated. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: ). tDWI demonstrated significantly higher CNR for breast tissue and fat. tDWI also showed lower CR values for tumor/breast tissue and lower values for tumor/fat. ADC measurements were similar between techniques (CV = 4.20%). DATA CONCLUSION: dDWI provides a 38% shorter acquisition time than tDWI while maintaining comparable quantitative performance. dDWI demonstrates improved image quality, particularly in challenging anatomical regions, though tDWI yields higher contrast-to-noise ratio values. EVIDENCE LEVEL: 3. TECHNICAL EFFICACY STAGE: 2.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.