The impact of aorta contrast enhancement patterns on ultrafast time of arrival measurements when screening for breast cancer with MRI

A growing number of MRI screening protocols to detect breast cancer are using ultrafast imaging to improve specificity by distinguishing between malignant and benign for small lesions by their time of arrival (ToA) of contrast relative to the aorta. Sagittal MIP of color intensity projections (CIP) of the middle quarter of the chest were used to display the DISCO ultrafast enhancement patterns of the aorta for 556 scans. While 71% of the scans presented simple aorta enhancement patterns, the remaining 29% were more complex. To ensure accurate ultrafast ToA measurements, the aorta enhancement pattern of each scan should be reviewed.