Influence of scan duration on the estimation of pharmacokinetic parameters for breast lesions: a study based on CAIPIRINHA-Dixon-TWIST-VIBE technique

To evaluate the influence of scan duration on pharmacokinetic parameters and their performance in differentiating benign from malignant breast lesions. Dynamic breast imaging was performed on a 3.0-T MR system using a prototype CAIPIRINHA-Dixon-TWISTVIBE (CDT-VIBE) sequence with a temporal resolution of 11.9 s. Enrolled in the study were 53 women with 55 lesions (26 benign and 29 malignant). Pharmacokinetic parameters (Ktrans, ve , kep and iAUC) were calculated for various scan durations from 1 to 7 min after injection of contrast medium using the Tofts model. Ktrans, kep and ve calculated from the 1-min dataset were significantly different from those calculated from the other datasets. In benign lesions, Ktrans, kep and ve were significantly different only between 1 min and 2 min (corrected P > 0.05), but in malignant lesions there were significant differences for any of the comparisons up to 6 min vs. 7 min (corrected P > 0.05). There were no significant differences in AUCs for any of the parameters (P > 0.05). In breast dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI the scan duration has a significant impact on pharmacokinetic parameters, but the diagnostic ability may not be significantly affected. A scan duration of 5 min after injection of contrast medium may be sufficient for calculation of Tofts model pharmacokinetic parameters. Scan duration of DCE-MRI breast imaging has a significant impact on pharmacokinetic parameters A scan duration of less than 2 min results in spurious parameter estimates The initial 2 min are important for both benign and malignant lesions In malignant lesions the impact extends to 4 - 6 min The differentiation ability of parameters may not be affected by scan duration.