Magnetom avanto aera

The MRI protocol was optimized following international recommendations and current practice in breast MRI [5 (link),13 (link)]. Images were acquired in axial plane and the patient in a prone position [14 (link)] using either 1.5  T or 3.0 T scanners (Magnetom Avanto/Aera; Verio/Skyra) and dedicated breast array coils (all hardware: Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany). Protocols included dynamic contrast-enhanced T1-weighted scans, a T2-weighted fat-saturated scan and diffusion-weighted imaging. Protocol parameters are provided in Table 2. The contrast media (0.1  mmol/kg body weight gadobutrol, Bayer Schering Pharma, Berlin, Germany) was injected into an antecubital vein after the first dynamic acquisition [14 (link)] with a flow of 2.0  mL/sec, followed by a 20 mL saline flush. After a 30-second delay, the remaining five dynamic acquisitions were scanned under identical conditions.

MRI was performed on a 3 T scanner with 64 channels (Magnetom Skyra^™, Siemens Healthcare, Germany) and on 1.5 T scanners with 16/48 channels (Magnetom Avanto/Aera, Siemens Healthcare, Germany). The patients in this study underwent a routine abdominal imaging protocol, including: axial T1 FLASH, axial/coronal T2 HASTE and axial/coronal T2 HASTE fatsat (see Table 1 for tabulated imaging parameters).