Ernesto Staroswiecki1,2, Anderson Nnewihe1,3, Neal Kepler Bangerter4,5, Bruce Lewis Daniel1, Brian Andrew Hargreaves1
1Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 2Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 3Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 4Electrical and Computer Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA; 5Radiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Sodium MRI shows promise for breast imaging, since it does not require an exogenous contrast, and sodium signal in tumors differs from healthy glandular tissue. Sodium relaxation parameters could show differences in the lesions, and also allow sequence optimization. We show a protocol to acquire high-resolution in vivo sodium images and sodium T1 and T2* maps of glandular breast tissue at 3T, with corrections for the B1 profile of the coil. We also present preliminary results showing both the sodium signal intensity and the sodium T2* elevated values in areas corresponding to tumors when compared to healthy glandular tissue.