Quantitative Analysis of Dynamic Gd‐DTPA Enhancement in Breast Tumors Using a Permeability Model

Abstract
The MRI signal enhancement in a breast tumor, measured as a function of time after a bolus injection of Gd-DTPA, may contain enough information to differentiate malignant from benign tissue. We find a physiological model for measuring capillary permeability and leakage space (P. S. Tofts, A. G. Kermode, measurement of the blood-brain barrier permeability and leakage space using dynamic MR imaging. 1. Fundamental concepts. Magn. Reson. Med. 17, 357–367 (1991)) fits the data well. The enhancement curve is particularly sensitive to the preinjection T1, of the tumor, the dose, and the time of injection. This model may provide a means of characterizing the pathophysiology of breast tumors from the Gd-DTPA enhancement curve.