High spatial resolution quantitative susceptibility mapping using in-phase echoes enables the depiction of breast microcalcifications

Breast microcalcifications (MCs) can be the only sign of carcinoma and other precursor lesions of breast cancer in x-ray mammography. Mammography is routinely used for population-based breast cancer screening. However, due to the ionizing nature of x-ray radiation, the use of an MR-based technique would be desirable for repeated examinations especially in screening targeted sub-cohorts at high-risk or younger women. In this work, we present initial results on the visualization of MCs using MR with an optimized high-resolution GRE-scan and quantitative susceptibility mapping. The proposed methodology allows for the robust visualization of MC clusters in MR for the first time.