Assessment of Breast Cancer by Magnetic Resonance Elastography

Abstract

Introduction Breast palpation is an important screening tool for breast cancer. Approximately one third of breast cancers in some series are detected only by palpation and not by mammography [1]. Unfortunately, many lesions are too small or too deep to detect early by physical exam. Because tumors are usually much stiffer than normal surrounding tissue, changes in tissue elasticity have been shown to be a sensitive indicator of pathology [2]. Available conventional imaging modalities can not directly measure these mechanical properties, thus providing motivation for the development of alternative imaging techniques. Previously we described a technique using magnetic resonance imaging to visualize propagating acoustic shear waves, allowing for the quantification of the elastic properties of tissues [3,4]. Previous work in normal breast volunteers has shown that this technique, called magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), is feasible in-vivo and is capable of evaluating the elastic properties of normal fatty and glandular breast tissue [5]. The objective of this work is 1) to determine if MRE is capable of delineating known breast cancer tissue from normal tissues in-vivo, and 2) to quantify the shear modulus of various breast cancers in-vivo.