Lung Cancer Diagnosis Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data Obtained at Three Time Points

A computer-readable medium incorporating a program of instructions for providing a malignancy classification for a region of lung tissue based on MRI data, the program of instructions comprising:

• instructions for setting time points T1 and T2 measured from a time point T0 at or near an injection of a contrast agent, T1 representing a wash-in time point as detected by MRI for malignant lung tissue at which a first concentration value of the injected contrast agent is substantially equal to or near a peak for injected contrast agent concentration for the malignant lung tissue,
• wherein at T2 a second concentration value of the injected contrast agent for the malignant lung tissue is less than or substantially equal to the first concentration value at T1, and a third concentration value of the injected contrast agent for non-malignant lung tissue at T1 is less than or substantially equal to a fourth concentration value of the injected contrast agent concentration for the non-malignant lung tissue at T2;
• instructions for obtaining a first sample concentration value of the contrast agent for the region of lung tissue at T1 and a second concentration value of the contrast agent for the region of lung tissue at T2;
• instructions for determining a malignancy classification for the region of lung tissue by comparing the obtained sample concentration values with a predetermined malignancy profile;
• and
• instructions for outputting a representation of the malignancy classification of the region of lung tissue.