# Non-Contrast DWI for Supplemental Screening of Women with Dense Breasts

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2022 · $339,066

## Abstract

Abstract
 Breast cancer is extremely common, striking 1 in 8 American women, and is the second leading cause
of cancer death among women in the U.S. Women with dense breasts on screening mammography have a two
to five times increased risk of developing breast cancer, and increased breast density reduces the sensitivity of
mammography for cancer detection. As a result, a growing number of states have passed legislation
mandating that women have a right to know if their breast density is increased. Unfortunately, there are no
clear guidelines as to what women should do with this information or appropriate supplemental screening
strategies. Studies investigating the use of ultrasound in this role have not been convincing, generally showing
low added cancer yield and high rate of false positives. On the other hand, contrast-enhanced MRI has the
highest sensitivity for detecting cancers in dense breasts, but barriers to more widespread use of breast MRI
include high costs, relatively lengthy scanning times, and contraindications related to administration of
gadolinium-based contrast. Furthermore, new research providing evidence of accumulation of gadolinium-
based contrast agents in the brain has raised awareness and concerns about the risk of long-term use of
contrast-enhanced MRI for screening and surveillance. An effective, low cost, safe screening method is
needed to detect mammographically occult cancers in women with dense breasts.
 Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is a short (2-3 minutes) non-contrast MRI technique that has shown
promise for the detection and characterization of breast cancer. Our preliminary data has shown that DWI
holds potential for detecting mammographically and clinically-occult breast cancers. However, current technical
limitations reduce the sensitivity of DWI for screening applications. We hypothesize that an optimized DWI
approach will enable detection of mammographically occult breast cancer in women with dense breasts with
high sensitivity and low false positive rate. Aims of the study will be to 1) optimize the DWI acquisition 2)
develop an interpretation strategy and tools, and 3) test the performance of DWI for detecting
mammographically-occult breast cancer in women with dense breasts. If successful, non-contrast DWI could
provide a viable supplemental screening tool to improve early detection of cancer in women with dense
breasts.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10415912
- **Project number:** 5R01CA207290-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Savannah Corrina Partridge
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $339,066
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-06-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10415912

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10415912, Non-Contrast DWI for Supplemental Screening of Women with Dense Breasts (5R01CA207290-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10415912. Licensed CC0.

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