Relaxation–Diffusion T2–ADC Correlations in Breast Cancer Patients: A Spatiotemporally Encoded 3T MRI Assessment

Martins Otikovs, Noam Nissan, Edna Furman-Haran, Debbie Anaby, Ravit Agassi, Miri Sklair-Levy, Lucio Frydman*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Quantitative correlations between T2 and ADC values were explored on cancerous breast lesions using spatiotemporally encoded (SPEN) MRI. To this end, T2 maps of patients were measured at more than one b-value, and ADC maps at several echo time values were recorded. SPEN delivered quality, artifact-free, TE-weighted DW images, from which T2-ADC correlations could be obtained despite the signal losses brought about by diffusion and relaxation. Data confirmed known aspects of breast cancer lesions, including their reduced ADC values vs. healthy tissue. Data also revealed an anticorrelation between the T2 and ADC values, when comparing regions with healthy and diseased tissues. This is contrary to expectations based on simple water restriction considerations. It is also contrary to what has been observed in a majority of porous materials and tissues. Differences between the healthy tissue of the lesion-affected breast and healthy tissue in the contralateral breast were also noticed. The potential significance of these trends is discussed, as is the potential of combining T2- and ADC-weightings to achieve an enhanced endogenous MRI contrast about the location of breast cancer lesions.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3516
JournalDiagnostics
Volume13
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2023

Funding

FundersFunder number
Azrieli National Center for Brain Imaging
Perlman Family Foundation
Minerva Foundation
Weizmann Institute of Science
Israel Science Foundation1874/22, 3594/21

    Keywords

    • T2 measurements
    • breast cancer
    • cancer diagnosis
    • diffusion-weighted MRI

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