Clearer images with radiation-free mammography
Gentle breast imaging is being further developed under the leadership of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg / One million euros in funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG)
Since February 2017, the Medical Center - University of Freiburg has been leading a project that aims to significantly improve magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for breast examinations. The project is being funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with one million euros. The aim is to develop an additional device for MRI that allows ten times greater signal differentiation than current clinical MRI systems. This should enable much more detailed conclusions to be drawn about the condition of the tissue. This is particularly important in the diagnosis of breast cancer. In the long term, the radiation-free procedure could supplement or even replace the current standard method of X-ray mammography. The Department of Radiology - Medical Physics at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg is carrying out the three-year project in cooperation with the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the University Hospital Erlangen. In the current project phase, the aim is to investigate how the procedure can be technically implemented for use in humans in order to further develop the device into a prototype that can be used in patients in a second phase.
"The MRI method we are developing in this project will allow us to collect detailed information about the content, changes and shape of individual cells. This will make it possible to calculate very precisely which cellular changes have occurred in a suspicious tissue, such as a tumor," says Dr. Maxim Zaitsev, research group leader at the Department of Radiology - Medical Physics at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg.
In order to make the technology fit for clinical use, the scientists working with project leader Dr. Zaitsev are now developing an additional device known as a high-performance diffusion probe. In addition to the usual, uniform MRI magnetic field, this probe is intended to generate an additional, very strong, spatially variable magnetic field. This will significantly increase the informative value and accuracy of the images. A basic design has already been developed in preliminary studies. "We are now testing the technical feasibility of the approach and want to demonstrate patient safety," says Dr. Zaitsev.
The imaging used by the scientists is based on a special MRI method: diffusion-weighted MRI. This involves characterizing the movement of water molecules in the tissue. Physicians already use this method on a daily basis in clinical diagnostics, for example in the case of strokes or cancer. However, the accuracy and sensitivity is not yet high enough to draw conclusions about microscopic structures.
Contact:
Dr. Maxim Zaitsev
Research Group Leader
Department of Radiology - Medicine Physics
Uniklinik - University of Freiburg
Phone: 0761 270-74120
maxim.zaitsev@uniklinik-freiburg.de
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