Abstract #0448

Background Parenchymal Enhancement (BPE) in Healthy Subjects and Breast Cancer Patients: A Quantitative Evaluation & Comparison with Diffusion-Weighted Imaging

Gene Young Cho¹,², Linda Moy³, Scott DeGregorio³, Sungheon Kim¹, Melanie Moccaldi³, Jane Kwon¹, Steven Baete¹, Daniel K. Sodickson¹, Eric E. Sigmund¹

¹Radiology, NYU School of Medicine - Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, New York, NY, United States; ²NYU Sackler Institute of Biomedical Science, New York, NY, United States; ³Radiology, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States

Recent studies have used MRI biomarkers such as background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) to correlate with prognostic factors of breast cancer and predict cancer odds. An increased BPE correlates significantly with higher odds ratios for developing breast cancer. In this study, BPE was measured from a cohort of healthy controls and breast cancer patients using dynamic contrast enhanced MRI. BPE values were compared between controls and patients, and with diffusion metrics of fibroglandular tissue (FGT) and in the patient lesions. Implications for the biophysical underpinnings of BPE and its interpretation are considered.