Reproducibility of Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) MRI of the Breast at 7 Tesla

Adrienne N. Dula¹, ², Lori R. Arlinghaus², Jason M. Williams², Richard G. Abramson¹, ², Richard D. Dortch¹, ², Seth A. Smith¹, ², Thomas E. Yankeelov¹, ²

From detection and diagnosis through treatment planning and monitoring, medical imaging plays a vital role in clinical course of breast cancer. Clinical decisions are based on imaging metrics that are typically poor surrogates for underlying tissue pathophysiology. We propose the use of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging to evaluate the biochemical composition of the fibroglandular tissue of the breast. Ten healthy female volunteers were scanned with four returning for repeatability measures. In this study, we have established the reproducibility of the CEST-derived metrics of APT and GAG imaging of the healthy breast at 7T.