Table B1. MR pulse sequence protocol for a breast MR examination in use for this study.
Sequence type | Repetition time TR (ms) | Echo time TE (MS) 1.5 T | Flip angle (0) | Matrix size | Number of slices | Field of view (FOV) (MM) | Pixel size (mm x mm) | Number of averages | Acquisition time (min:s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Precontrast, high-resolution 3D T1-weighted | 8.9 | 4.2 | 35 | 512 × 384 | 60 | 340 | 0.66 × 0.89 | 1 | 2 |
Dynamic contrast enhanced, 3D T1-weighteda 2 sequences before contrast injection and 6 after | 8.8 | 4.2 | 35 | 256 × 256b | 480 | 340 | 1.33 × 1.33b | 1 | 8 × 1.10 |
Postcontrast, high-resolution 3D T1-weighted with fat suppression | 18.9 | 4.2 | 35 | 512 × 384 | 60 | 340 | 0.66 × 0.89 | 1 | 5 |
Contrast injection was 0.16 mmol kg−1 body weight with an injection speed of 3 ml s−1, given after the second precontrast dynamic sequence.
The matrix size is optimised to ensure that the acquisition time of each 3D image is 70 s.