High-temporal resolution DCE-MRI improves assessment of intra- and peri-breast lesions categorized as BI-RADS 4
Authors: Liu Yufeng , Wang Shiwei , Qu Jingjing , Tang Rui , Wang Chundan , Xiao Fengchun , Pang Peipei , Sun Zhichao , Xu Maosheng , Li Jiaying 
Published: April 2023

Background

BI-RADS 4 breast lesions are suspicious for malignancy with a range from 2 to 95%, indicating that numerous benign lesions are unnecessarily biopsied. Thus, we aimed to investigate whether high-temporal-resolution dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (H_DCE-MRI) would be superior to conventional low-temporal-resolution DCE-MRI (L_DCE-MRI) in the diagnosis of BI-RADS 4 breast lesions.

Methods

This single-center study was approved by the IRB. From April 2015 to June 2017, patients with breast lesions were prospectively included and randomly assigned to undergo either H_DCE-MRI, including 27 phases, or L_DCE-MRI, including 7 phases. Patients with BI-RADS 4 lesions were diagnosed by the senior radiologist in this study. Using a two-compartment extended Tofts model and a three-dimensional volume of interest, several pharmacokinetic parameters reflecting hemodynamics, including Ktrans, Kep, Ve, and Vp, were obtained from the intralesional, perilesional and background parenchymal enhancement areas, which were labeled the Lesion, Peri and BPE areas, respectively. Models were developed based on hemodynamic parameters, and the performance of these models in discriminating between benign and malignant lesions was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

Results

A total of 140 patients were included in the study and underwent H_DCE-MRI (n = 62) or L_DCE-MRI (n = 78) scans; 56 of these 140 patients had BI-RADS 4 lesions. Some pharmacokinetic parameters from H_DCE-MRI (Lesion_Ktrans, Kep, and Vp; Peri_Ktrans, Kep, and Vp) and from L_DCE-MRI (Lesion_Kep, Peri_Vp, BPE_Ktrans and BPE_Vp) were significantly different between benign and malignant breast lesions (P < 0.01). ROC analysis showed that Lesion_Ktrans (AUC = 0.866), Lesion_Kep (AUC = 0.929), Lesion_Vp (AUC = 0.872), Peri_Ktrans (AUC = 0.733), Peri_Kep (AUC = 0.810), and Peri_Vp (AUC = 0.857) in the H_DCE-MRI group had good discrimination performance. Parameters from the BPE area showed no differentiating ability in the H_DCE-MRI group. Lesion_Kep (AUC = 0.767), Peri_Vp (AUC = 0.726), and BPE_Ktrans and BPE_Vp (AUC = 0.687 and 0.707) could differentiate between benign and malignant breast lesions in the L_DCE-MRI group. The models were compared with the senior radiologist’s assessment for the identification of BI-RADS 4 breast lesions. The AUC, sensitivity and specificity of Lesion_Kep (0.963, 100.0%, and 88.9%, respectively) in the H_DCE-MRI group were significantly higher than those of the same parameter in the L_DCE-MRI group (0.663, 69.6% and 75.0%, respectively) for the assessment of BI-RADS 4 breast lesions. The DeLong test was conducted, and there was a significant difference only between Lesion_Kep in the H_DCE-MRI group and the senior radiologist (P = 0.04).

Conclusions

Pharmacokinetic parameters (Ktrans, Kep and Vp) from the intralesional and perilesional regions on high-temporal-resolution DCE-MRI, especially the intralesional Kep parameter, can improve the assessment of benign and malignant BI-RADS 4 breast lesions to avoid unnecessary biopsy.