FOCUS DWI and FOCUS DWI with deep learning-based reconstruction in breast MRI: A comparison with conventional DWI

Motivation: DWI MRI is widely used in diagnosis and treatment evaluation of breast cancer but is prone to artifacts due to the breast's superficial location and large field of view (FOV). Goal(s): To investigate the feasibility and performance of reduced-FOV FOCUS DWI and FOCUS DWI with deep learning-based reconstruction (DLR) for breast MRI in Asian patients with small breast volumes. Approach: Both subjective and objective methods were used to compare the image quality of FOCUS DWI, FOCUS-DLR DWI and conventional DWI for breast cancer imaging. Results: Our results demonstrated that FOCUS-DLR DWI showed improved image quality and higher image scores compared to conventional DWI. Impact: FOCUS-DLR DWI enhances the visibility of lesion details, offering a novel approach to optimize breast MRI. This technique also holds promise for improving diffusion imaging in other regions of the human body, particularly small organs with surrounding tissue.