Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging can be used to evaluate the diffusion of water molecules and microcirculation perfusion in vivo by using a biexponential model with multiple b-values. IVIM has been used to differential diagnose breast benign and malignant lesions, evaluate the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and IVIM parameters maybe relate to molecular subtypes and prognostic factors of breast cancer. The research progresses of IVIM in breast cancer were reviewed in this article.

Purpose To explore the preliminary application of spectral CT in the diagnosis of breast cancer,in order to provide more imaging supplemental information for clinical studies.Materials and Methods Twelve patients with pathologically confirmed breast cancer underwent preoperative spectral CT dual-phase contrast-enhanced scans in General Hospital of Lanzhou from May 2016 to February 2017 were retrospectively analyzed,including 6 patients with lymph node metastasis.With contralateral normal breast as the control group,the CT values at 40-140 keV,spectral curve slopes,iodine contents and relative iodine contents of breast cancer were measured in dual phase.The spectral curve,histogram,scatter plot of primary lesions and metastatic lymph nodes were drawn.In order to compare the radiation doses,12female patients undergoing dual-phase contrast-enhanced scans with traditional CT were included randomly as the control group,and the radiation dose evaluation parameters included volume CT dose index,dose-length product,effective dose.Results All the spectral parameters of breast cancer in arterial phase and venous phase were higher than those of normal breast,and the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05).The average effective dose of spectral CT dual-phase contrast-enhanced scans was lower than that of regular CT,and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).For the 6 patients with lymph node metastasis,the spectral curve,histogram and scatter plot of primary lesions and metastatic lymph nodes were in higher consistency in venous phase.Conclusion The special spectral parameters of breast cancer contribute to the further diagnosis of lesions.The consistence of spectral curve,histogram and scatter plot of primary lesions and metastatic lymph nodes is helpful for the identification of lymph nodes.Spectral CT breast dual-phase contrast-enhanced scans use lower radiation dose,which makes up for the deficiency of traditional CT in the qualitative diagnosis of breast diseases due to higher radiation dose.Therefore,spectral CT is of certain clinical application value in the diagnosis of breast cancer.