High Volume of Enhancing Parenchyma on DCE MRI Tied to Breast Cancer Risk

A high volume of enhancing parenchyma on baseline dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans is associated with increased occurrence of breast cancer among women with extremely dense breasts, according to a study published online Aug. 8 in Radiology.

Hui Wang, M.D., from the Image Sciences Institute in Utrecht, Netherlands, and colleagues examined quantitative properties of the breast parenchyma on baseline DCE MRI scans and assessed their association with breast cancer occurrence in women with extremely dense breasts. MRI was performed in eight hospitals. After segmentation of fibroglandular tissue, quantitative features of the parenchyma were extracted from baseline MRI. Parenchymal measures with the greatest variance were identified using principal component analysis.

Data were included for 4,553 women with extremely dense breasts; 3 percent were diagnosed with breast cancer. The researchers identified five principal components representing 96 percent of the variance; the component of MRI features relating to volume of enhancing parenchyma explained the greatest independent variance (42 percent).