Following administration of gadolinium, there can be three possible enhancement (time intensity) kinetic curves for a lesion on breast MRI (these are also applied in other organs such as prostate MRI). These are sometimes termed the Kuhl enhancement curves.
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type I curve: progressive or persistent enhancement pattern
- typically shows a continuous increase in signal intensity throughout time
- usually considered benign with only a small proportion of (~9%) of malignant lesions having this pattern
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type II curve: plateau pattern
- initial uptake followed by the plateau phase towards the latter part of the study
- considered concerning for malignancy
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type III curve: washout pattern
- has a relatively rapid uptake shows reduction in enhancement towards the latter part of the study
- considered strongly suggestive of malignancy
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