1H MR spectroscopy of small breast tumors using lipid suppression at 1.5 T

The purpose of this study is to assess the detectability of choline-containing compounds (Cho) in small breast tumors with proton (1H) magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy at 1.5T. Both MR imaging and spectroscopy were performed for 648 patients. Among the patients, there were 14 patients (15 lesions) who had a breast tumor that measured 1 cm or smaller. 1H MR spectroscopy with lipid suppression was used to detect the Cho peak. The average size of the lesions was 8.7 mm. The histological types included infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) (n=11) and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) (n=4). The Cho peak was detected at 3.2 ppm. There were 2 MRS-positive cases among 4 DCIS patients and 7 MRS-positive cases among 10 IDC patients. For one subject, convergence was not reached during the manual shimming procedure. The overall detectability was 64.3% (9/14). 1H MR spectroscopy at 1.5T with lipid suppression could be a promising means to detect Cho signals from small breast tumors measuring about 1 cm in size. (author)