Breast MRI

Abstract

The need for an alternative breast imaging method, and the potential for magnetic resonance (MR) in fulfilling this role, is not a new concept. MR images of the breast were some of the first images produced of any human anatomical part [ 1 Bovee WM Creyghton JH Getreuer KW et al. NMR relaxation and images of human breast tumours in vitro. Philos Trans R Soc London (Biol). 1980; 289: 535-536 Crossref PubMed Scopus (17) Google Scholar , 2 Mansfield P Morris PG Ordidge R Carcinoma of the breast imaged by NMR. Br J Radiol. 1979; 52: 242-243 Crossref PubMed Scopus (43) Google Scholar ]. When commercial MR imaging began, early clinical trials predicted potential for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in breast cancer diagnosis [ 3 El Yousef SJ Alfidi RJ Duchesneau RH et al. Initial experience with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging of the human breast. J Comput Assist Tomogr. 1983; 7: 215-218 Crossref PubMed Scopus (47) Google Scholar , 4 El Yousef SJ Duchesneau RH Alfidi RJ Haaga JR Bryan PJ LiPuma JP Magnetic resonance imaging of the breast: work-in-progress. Radiology. 1984; 150: 761-766 PubMed Google Scholar , 5 El Yousef SJ Duchesneau RH Magnetic resonance imaging of the human breast: a Phase I trial. Radiol Clin North Am. 1984; 22: 859-868 PubMed Google Scholar , 6 Stelling CB Wang PC Lieber A Mattingly SS Griffen WO Powell DE Prototype coil for magnetic resonance imaging of the female breast: work-in-progress. Radiology. 1985; 154: 457-462 PubMed Google Scholar ]. More detailed clinical studies, however, revealed that MRI had little to offer over less expensive and more widely available conventional imaging methods [ [7] Turner DA Alcorn FS Adler YT Nuclear magnetic resonance in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Radiol Clin North Am. 1988; 26: 673-687 PubMed Google Scholar ]. By the late 1980s, breast MRI was thought by most experts in the field to have little future [ [8] Kopans DB Breast Imaging. JB Lippincott, Philadelphia, PA1989: 356-359 Google Scholar ].