Pilot study of improved lesion characterization in breast MRI using a 3D radial balanced SSFP technique with isotropic resolution and efficient fat‐water separation

Purpose

To assess a 3D radial balanced steady‐state free precession (SSFP) technique that provides submillimeter isotropic resolution and inherently registered fat and water image volumes in comparison to conventional T2‐weighted RARE imaging for lesion characterization in breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Materials and Methods

3D projection SSFP (3DPR‐SSFP) combines a dual half‐echo radial k‐space trajectory with a linear combination fat/water separation technique (linear combination SSFP). A pilot study was performed in 20 patients to assess fat suppression and depiction of lesion morphology using 3DPR‐SSFP. For all patients fat suppression was measured for the 3DPR‐SSFP image volumes and depiction of lesion morphology was compared against corresponding T2‐weighted fast spin echo (FSE) datasets for 15 lesions in 11 patients.

Results

The isotropic 0.63 mm resolution of the 3DPR‐SSFP sequence demonstrated improved depiction of lesion morphology in comparison to FSE. The 3DPR‐SSFP fat and water datasets were available in a 5‐minute scan time while average fat suppression with 3DPR‐SSFP was 71% across all 20 patients.

Conclusion

3DPR‐SSFP has the potential to improve the lesion characterization information available in breast MRI, particularly in comparison to conventional FSE. A larger study is warranted to quantify the effect of 3DPR‐SSFP on specificity. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2009;30:135–144. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.