Diffusion-weighted MR imaging with background body signal suppression (DWIBS) for the diagnosis of malignant and benign breast lesions.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of diffusion-weighted MR imaging with background body signal suppression (DWIBS) and a conventional DWI (cDWI) sequence for the detection of breast lesions. Fifty consecutive patients with suspected breast lesions underwent DWIBS and cDWI at 1.5 T. The routine protocol consisted of a short TI inversion recovery (STIR) sequence and a dynamic contrast-enhanced T1-weighted sequence. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and exponential ADC (eADC) values of the lesions were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses and qualitative evaluation of lesion detectability and conspicuity were performed. Thirty-six lesions were detected in 30 patients by using the routine protocol. DWIBS detected 34 lesions (94%) and cDWI detected 26 lesions (72%). The conspicuity of fibroadenomas was significantly (P = 0.007) better for DWIBS. ADC and eADC values of tumour were significantly different between DWIBS and cDWI. DWIBS is superior to cDWI in the visualization of malignant and benign lesions in the breast.