Efficacy of MR Mammography (MRM) in Providing Preoperative Locoregional Information on Breast Cancer: Correlation between MRM and Histological Findings

Abstract

To assess the efficacy of MRM in providing preoperative locoregional information on patients with breast cancer. MRI was performed on 62 female breast cancer patients. A 1.5T MR-system was used to acquire fat-suppressed T(1)WI, T(2)WI and dynamic-contrast-enhanced images with an SPGR pulse sequence. The extent of the cancer measured with MRM was confirmed histologically in all patients. The size obtained from MRM correlated well with the size obtained histologically, including intraductal spread of cancer (R: 0.853). As for shape, the round/oval type evident from MRM correlated more accurately (R: 0.934) than the ill-defined type associated with a linear and/or clumped enhanced area (R: 0.744). The difference between the size obtained from MRM and the size obtained histologically, including IDS, was less than 15 mm in the majority of patients (93.5%). MRM accurately reveals the extent of cancer, including IDS, and is effective at providing preoperative locoregional information for breast-conserving therapy for breast cancer.