Breast MRI in Women With Known or Suspected Breast Cancer and in Healthy Participants

• Feasibility of advanced, quantitative, multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods for characterizing breast tumors to develop potential surrogate imaging markers for diagnosis and prediction of treatment response [ Time Frame: at study entry (healthy volunteers), pre-surgical and pre- and post-chemotherapy (breast cancer patients) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Quantitative, multi-parametric MRI imaging methods include Dynamic Contrast MRI, Diffusion Weighted MRI, and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Patients will include healthy female volunteers and women diagnosed with breast cancer
  
  

• Correlation of biochemical data obtained from magnetic resonance analysis with clinical, radiological, and pathological findings [ Time Frame: After completion of surgical, chemotherapeutic, and radiologic treatments ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Biochemical data from advanced MRIs are compared and contrasted with findings from patients' clinical, chemotherapeutic, and radiologic treatments for breast cancer
  
  
• Establishment of an imaging data bank [ Time Frame: After completion of all MRI procedures ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Results of advanced MRI imaging methods for subjects
  
  

OBJECTIVES:

• Develop and combine advanced, quantitative, multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging methods (i.e., dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI [DCE-MRI], diffusion-weighted MRI [DW-MRI], and magnetic resonance spectroscopy [MRS]) to characterize breast tumors in women with known or suspected breast cancer.
• Identify surrogate biomarkers that can guide diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer using these methods.
• Correlate biochemical information obtained from magnetic resonance analysis with clinical, radiologic, and pathologic findings in these patients.
• Establish an imaging data bank that includes information on DCE-MRI, DW-MRI, and MRS findings in these patients and in healthy participants.

OUTLINE: Quantitative, multi-parametric magnetic imaging methods will be employed for breast imaging for the following subjects:

• Group A: Healthy volunteers who undergo up to 3 breast MRIs over 6 weeks.
• Group B: Patients diagnosed with breast cancer who will: 1) undergo preoperative breast MRI followed by definitive surgery or 2) undergo MRI prior to initiating neoadjuvant chemotherapy, at 1-2 weeks after initiation of chemotherapy, and prior to definitive surgery.

Clinical information, including radiologic and pathologic data, on all patients is collected for inclusion in the imaging data bank.

After completion of the study, patients and healthy participants are followed periodically.