Microscopic diffusion properties of fixed breast tissue: preliminary findings

• Main Authors: Norddin, Narina, Power, Carl, Watson, Geoffrey, Cowin, Gary, Kurniawan, Nyoman, Gluch, Laurence, Bourne, Roger
• Format: Article
• Language: English; English
• Published: Wiley 2014
• Subjects: R Medicine (General)
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/40078/1/MRM-_Decision_on_Manuscript_-_Narina_Norddin.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/40078/2/Norddin_et_al_2014_.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/40078/; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mrm.25555/abstract

Purpose: To investigate the microscopic diffusion properties of formalin-fixed breast tissue. Methods: Diffusion microimaging was performed at 16.4T with 40-mm isotropic voxels on two normal and two cancer tissue samples from four patients. Results were correlated with histology of the samples. Results: Diffusion-weighted images and mean diffusivity maps demonstrated distinct diffusivity differences between breast tissue components. Mean diffusivity (MD) in normal tissue was 0.5960.24 mm2/ms for gland lobule (voxels containing epithelium and intralobular stroma) and 1.2360.34 mm2/ms for interlobular fibrous stroma. In the cancer samples, MD¼0.4560.23 mm2/ms for invasive ductal carcinoma (voxels contain epithelium and intralobular stroma) and 0.6160.35 mm2/ms for ductal carcinoma in situ. There were significant MD differences between all tissue components (P<0.005), except between gland lobule and ductal carcinoma in situ (P¼0.71). The low diffusivity of epithelium-rich cancer tissue and of normal epithelium relative to its supporting fibrous stroma was similar to that reported for prostate tissue and the esophageal wall. Conclusion: Diffusion microimaging demonstrates distinct diffusivity differences between breast tissue glandular structures. Low diffusivity may be a distinctive feature of mammalian epithelia.