The role of magnetisation Transfer imaging in the differentiation of malignant and benign tissues

Introduction: Breast cancer is a major health problem in women worldwide. The diagnosis of the breast cancer is based on palpation, mammography and ultrasonogram. MR imaging and MR spectroscopy has the potential to facilitate improved diagnosis in patients with breast lesions. In conventional MRI, the contrast between different tissues is dependent on the relaxation properties of the water. However to increase the information content, another contrast mechanisms with the use of magnetization transfer (MT) that utilizes the interaction of water protons with macromolecular protons have been explored. Several studies reported the role of MT imaging (MTI) in image contrast improvement and lesion characterisation (2-5). However, there is only one study in the evaluation of breast lesions (2). The objective of this study is to demonstrate the role of MTI in the differentiation of malignant and benign breast tissues.