Quantitative characterization of background parenchymal enhancement in abbreviated breast MRI acquired with a high relaxivity contrast agent

Motivation: Gadopiclenol is a recently-approved MR contrast agent that has a significantly higher relaxivity than other contrast agents on the market. Higher background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) in breast MRI could potentially lead to a higher false positive rate in screening studies. Goal(s): To compare enhancement characteristics of background parenchyma in abbreviated breast MRI (AbMR) screening studies acquired with two different contrast agents. Approach: We retrospectively reviewed sequential screening AbMR scans of 264 patients who were imaged with both gadopiclenol and gadoteridol and quantitatively measured BPE. Results: BPE was slightly higher in images acquired with gadopiclenol despite its dose being lower: 23%±12% vs 21%±9% (p<0.01). Impact: Abbreviated breast MRIs acquired with 0.05mmol/kg gadopiclenol showed slightly higher levels of signal enhancement in background parenchyma than those acquired with 0.1mmol/kg gadoteridol. Further investigation is underway to determine whether these differences lead to a higher false positive rate.