Obermann M, Nohava L, Frass-Kriegl R, Soanca O, Ginefri JC, Felblinger J, Clauser P, Baltzer PA, Laistler E. Panoramic Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Breast With a Wearable Coil Vest.
Invest Radiol 2023;
58:799-810. [PMID:
37227137 PMCID:
PMC10581436 DOI:
10.1097/rli.0000000000000991]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Breast cancer, the most common malignant cancer in women worldwide, is typically diagnosed by x-ray mammography, which is an unpleasant procedure, has low sensitivity in women with dense breasts, and involves ionizing radiation. Breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most sensitive imaging modality and works without ionizing radiation, but is currently constrained to the prone imaging position due to suboptimal hardware, therefore hampering the clinical workflow.
OBJECTIVES
The aim of this work is to improve image quality in breast MRI, to simplify the clinical workflow, shorten measurement time, and achieve consistency in breast shape with other procedures such as ultrasound, surgery, and radiation therapy.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
To this end, we propose "panoramic breast MRI"-an approach combining a wearable radiofrequency coil for 3 T breast MRI (the "BraCoil"), acquisition in the supine position, and a panoramic visualization of the images. We demonstrate the potential of panoramic breast MRI in a pilot study on 12 healthy volunteers and 1 patient, and compare it to the state of the art.
RESULTS
With the BraCoil, we demonstrate up to 3-fold signal-to-noise ratio compared with clinical standard coils and acceleration factors up to 6 × 4. Panoramic visualization of supine breast images reduces the number of slices to be viewed by a factor of 2-4.
CONCLUSIONS
Panoramic breast MRI allows for high-quality diagnostic imaging and facilitated correlation to other diagnostic and interventional procedures. The developed wearable radiofrequency coil in combination with dedicated image processing has the potential to improve patient comfort while enabling more time-efficient breast MRI compared with clinical coils.
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