Abstract
Breast cancer screening is necessary to reduce mortality due to undetected breast cancer. Current methods have limitations, and as a result many women forego regular screening. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can overcome most of these limitations, but access to conventional MRI is not widely available for routine annual screening. Here, we used an MRI scanner operating at ultra-low field (ULF) to image the left breasts of 11 women (mean age, 35 years ±13 years) in the prone position. Three breast radiologists reviewed the imaging and were able to discern the breast outline and distinguish fibroglandular tissue (FGT) from intramammary adipose tissue. Additionally, the expert readers agreed on their assessment of the breast tissue pattern including fatty, scattered FGT, heterogeneous FGT, and extreme FGT. This preliminary work demonstrates that ULF breast MRI is feasible and may be a potential option for comfortable, widely deployable, and low-cost breast cancer diagnosis and screening.
Competing Interest Statement
MSR is a founder and equity holder of Hyperfine, Inc. All other authors declare no conflicts.
Funding Statement
This study was funded by: - National Institutes of Health grant 1R21CA267315 (KEK, MSR) - Kiyomi and Ed Baird MGH Research Scholar award (MSR) - German-American Fulbright Commission (FKL) - National Institute of Standards and Technology (KEK, SEO) - NIST-PREP 70NANB18H006 from U.S. Department of Commerce (SEO)
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I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.
Yes
The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:
The prospective pilot study was granted institution review board approval from the Office for Human Research Studies (protocol 21-579) at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Written informed consent was obtained from each participant.
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Data Availability
All data generated or analyzed during the study are available in the main text.