Breast density measurement for more effective mammography

Purpose and goal

The purpose of the project was to investigate whether AMRA´s method for fat and water quantification in MR images can be modified for measuring breast density, which is a very important factor for breast cancer risk assessment. The goal was to develop such a method and also to evaluate it by comparing the result with the standard visual breast density assessment done by experts in normal mammography. Both these goals were achieved with good results.

Results and expected effects

The result from the evaluation shows that the new automated method gives a density measure that correlates well to the visual assessment made by two experienced experts. In fact, the correlation was equal to that between the two individual experts´ ratings. This indicates that the method has potential to be used as a fully automated method for breast density measurements in MR mammography and that it therefore is a candidate for breast caner risk assessment without the use of ionizing radiation. This is particularly important for younger women in high-risk groups.

Approach and implementation

The method development was done at AMRA in Linköping, Sweden. Parallel to his, patients at a mammography clinic in Britain were recruited to participate in the study. These patients underwent an extended MR scanning as a complement to the traditional mammography. Data from the MR scans were sent to AMRA for analysis by the new method. The results were compared with the standard 4-graded breast density estimates that were made on the normal mammography images by two experienced experts in Britain.