Saturation transfer ratio imaging in invasive ductal carcinomas of the breast

A prospective study was performed to investigate the correlations between s aturation transfer ratio (STR) and histologic parameters of invasive ductal carcinomas in human breast. The histologic parameters investigated were th e extent of fibrosis in the intercellular matrix, dysplastic changes of nuc lei, and mitotic index, Twenty-seven patients with breast carcinoma were ex amined using an off-resonance saturation pulse in conjunction with conventi onal field-echo T-1-weighted imaging at frequency offsets of 448 Hz and 120 0 Hz from water resonance. The values of STR at frequency offset of 1200 Hz (STR1200) increased from non-scirrhous carcinoma to scirrhous carcinoma. A lthough STR1200 showed correlation with the extent of fibrosis in the inter cellular matrix (p < 0.01, n = 27), they did not correlate with the dysplas tic changes of nuclei or mitotic index. On the other hand, the values of ST R at frequency offset of 448 Hz (STR448) demonstrated close correlation to dysplastic changes of nuclei and mitotic index (p < 0.01, n = 27). STR1200 correlates with the structural characteristics and STR448 correlates with t he nature of malignant cells with regard to nuclear dysplasia and mitotic p otential. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.