Adding quantitative T1rho-weighted imaging to conventional MRI improves specificity and sensitivity for differentiating malignant from benign breast lesions

To investigate the feasibility of T1rho-weighted imaging in differentiating malignant from benign breast lesions and to explore the additional value of T1rho to conventional MRI. We prospectively enrolled consecutive women with breast lesions who underwent preoperative T1rho-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging, and dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) between November 2021 and July 2023. The T1rho, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and semi-quantitative parameters from DCE-MRI were obtained and compared between benign and malignant groups. The diagnostic performance was analyzed and compared using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the Delong Test. This study included 113 patients (74 malignant and 39 benign lesions). The mean T1rho value in the benign group (92.61 ± 22.10 ms) was significantly higher than that in the malignant group (72.18 ± 16.37 ms) (P < 0.001). The ADC value and time to peak (TTP) value in the malignant group (1.13 ± 0.45 and 269.06 ± 106.01, respectively) were lower than those in the benign group (1.57 ± 0.45 and 388.30 ± 81.13, respectively) (all P < 0.001). T1rho combined with ADC and TTP showed good diagnostic performance with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.896, a sensitivity of 81.0%, and a specificity of 87.1%. The specificity and sensitivity of the combination of T1rho, ADC, and TTP were significantly higher than those of the combination of ADC and TTP (87.1% vs. 84.6%, P < 0.005; 81.0% vs. 77.0%, P < 0.001). T1rho-weighted imaging was a feasible MRI sequence for differentiating malignant from benign breast lesions. The combination of T1rho, ADC and TTP could achieve a favorable diagnostic performance with improved specificity and sensitivity, T1rho could serve as a supplementary approach to conventional MRI.