April M. Chow1, Polly S. Y. Cheung2,
Raymond Lee3, Ka Man Chan3, Sau Fan Liu1,
Siu Ki Yu1, Gladys G. Lo3
1Medical Physics &
Research Department, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Happy Valley, Hong
Kong SAR, China, People's Republic of; 2Breast Care Center, Hong
Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Happy Valley, Hong Kong SAR, China, People's
Republic of; 3Department of Diagnostic & Interventional
Radiology, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Happy Valley, Hong Kong SAR,
China, People's Republic of
Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) has been widely used to characterize malignant and benign lesions at 1.5 T. However, conventional DWI uses 5 - 8 mm slice thickness, partial volume averaging for small lesion and may lead to difficulty in distinguishing it from neighboring normal tissue. The use of thinner slices may allow small, low-contrast lesions to be detectable, improving the depiction of small tumors. In this study, we evaluated the effect of thin-section DWI in detecting malignant breast lesions at 3 T. Reduced ADC values were observed and characterized in malignant lesions, compared to normal breast tissues. Differential ADC values were demonstrated between conventional and thin-section DWI in malignant lesions. Sensitivity increased from 80% to 98% with thin-section DWI in diagnosis of malignant lesions, as compared to conventional DWI.