The diagnostic performance of time-dependent diffusion MRI in differentiating benign and malignant breast tumors

Motivation: Diffusion-time-dependent diffusion MRI (td-dMRI) has potential in noninvasive mapping of breast tumor microstructure. However, its diagnostic value in differentiating benign and malignant tumors remains unclear, especially including transcytolemmal water exchange. Goal(s): To investigate the clinical value of td-dMRI-based microstructural mapping for discriminating benign and malignant breast tumors. Approach: Time-dependent dMRI data acquired with OGSE and PGSE sequences were estimated with the JOINT models. Results: The td-dMRI-based fin, cellularity and τin showed significant group differences between benign and malignant breast tumors. The combination of cellularity and τin indices achieved the highest diagnostic performance, with an accuracy of 94% and AUC of 0.958. Impact: The diagnostic performance of cellularity-τin obtained from td-dMRI was comparable with or superior to previous studies. The 7.5-minute protocol is translatable to clinical diagnostics.