Simultaneous contrast ultrasound and DCE MRI for improved breast tumour characterization: demonstration of technical feasibility

Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) shows promise for characterizing breast tumours and monitoring their response to therapies. Unfortunately, it suffers from the limitation that the measured signal arises from both within and outside blood vessels, and the images cannot be acquired fast enough to accurately characterize tumours. Contrast ultrasound signals arise only from blood and can be acquired with high temporal resolution, addressing two major weaknesses of DCE-MRL The technical feasibility of combining contrast ultrasound imaging with DCE-MRI for simultaneous measurements of contrast agent dynamics was explored in this study. Pulse-inversion B-scan ultrasound imaging was performed in a closed-bore clinical MR imager using a non-magnetic linear positioning system, and by placing the pre-amps and isolation circuits at the bore of the magnet. Initial experiments in a rabbit kidney model demonstrate the feasibility of performing simultaneous contrast imaging with both modalities.