Variation of the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Measured from Various Regions of the Normal Breast Tissue Using Diffusion Weighted MRI as a Function of Various Phases of the Menstrual Cycle.

Rani Gupta Sah¹, Uma Sharma¹, Rajinder Parshad², Naranamangalam R. Jagannathan¹

ADC calculated using Diffusion weighted MRI from various regions of normal breast of 9 volunteers revealed cyclic variation in ADC of para-areolar region during various phases of menstrual cycle. In para-areolar region, ADC was 1.9 0.01 during proliferative phase and reduced to 1.73 0.03 and 1.70 0.04 during follicular and luteal phases. It increased to 1.91 0.16 and 1.98 0.15 during secretory and menstrual phases. No change was observed for upper, lower and central quadrants. Assessment of breast disease using ADC needs careful consideration of location and effect of menstrual related variation in tissue characteristics.