Quantitative background parenchymal enhancement and fibro-glandular density at breast MRI: Association with BRCA status.

Objectives: To investigate whether MRI-based measurements of fibro-glandular tissue volume, breast density (MRBD), and background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) could be used to stratify two cohorts of healthy women: BRCA carriers and women at population risk of breast cancer.

Methods: Pre-menopausal women aged 40-50 years old were scanned at 3 T, employing a standard breast protocol including a DCE-MRI (35 and 30 participants in high- and low-risk groups, respectively). The dynamic range of the DCE protocol was characterised and both breasts were masked and segmented with minimal user input to produce measurements of fibro-glandular tissue volume, MRBD, and voxelwise BPE.

Descriptive analysis of MRI functional changes occurring during reduced dose radiotherapy for myxoid liposarcomas.

Objectives: Myxoid liposarcomas (MLS) show enhanced response to radiotherapy due to their distinctive vascular pattern and therefore could be effectively treated with lower radiation doses. This is a descriptive study to explore the use of functional MRI to identify response in a uniform cohort of MLS patients treated with reduced dose radiotherapy.

Methods: 10 patients with MLS were imaged pre-, during, and post-radiotherapy receiving reduced dose radiotherapy and the response to treatment was histopathologically assessed post-radiotherapy.

Neuroimaging methods in Epilepsy of Temporal Origin.

Background: Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) comprises the most common form of symptomatic refractory focal epilepsy in adults. Accurate lateralization and localization of the epileptogenic focus are a significant prerequisite for determining surgical candidacy once the patient has been deemed medically intractable. Structural MR imaging, clinical, electrophysiological, and neurophysiological data have an established role in the localization of the epileptogenic foci.

An automated approach for the optimised estimation of breast density with Dixon methods.

Objective: To present and evaluate an automated method to correct scaling between Dixon water/fat images used in breast density (BD) assessments.

Methods: Dixon images were acquired in 14 subjects with different weightings (flip angles, FA, 4°/16°). Our method corrects intensity differences between water () and fat () images via the application of a uniform scaling factor (SF), determined subject-by-subject.