Abstract
ObjectiveTo assess the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the planning of breast cancer treatment strategies.Materials and MethodsThe study included 160 women diagnosed with breast cancer, who underwent breast MRI for preoperative staging. Using Pearson's correlation coefficient (r), we compared the size of the primary tumor, as determined by MRI, by conventional imaging (mammography and ultrasound), and in the pathological examination (gold standard). The identification of lesions not identified in previous examinations was also evaluated, as was its influence on treatment planning.ResultsThe mean age of the patients was 52.2 years (range, 30–81 years), and the most common histological type was invasive ductal carcinoma (in 60.6% of the patients). In terms of the tumor size determined, MRI correlated better with the pathological examination than did mammography (r = 0.872 vs. 0.710) or ultrasound (r = 0.836 vs. 0.704). MRI identified additional lesions in 53 patients (33.1%), including malignant lesions in 20 (12.5%), which led to change in the therapeutic planning in 23 patients (14.4%).ConclusionBreast MRI proved to be more accurate than conventional imaging in determining the dimensions of the main tumor and was able to identify lesions not identified by other methods evaluated, which altered the therapeutic planning in a significant proportion of cases.
Highlights
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been increasingly used in the management of breast cancer
França LKL et al / Role of breast MRI in therapeutic planning in the contralateral breast, and that the latter finding is associated with a worse prognosis[2,3,4,5,6,7]
The use of breast MRI for preoperative staging of the contralateral breast in patients diagnosed with breast cancer, is recommended by the American College of Radiology and the European Society of Breast Imaging[8,9]
Summary
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been increasingly used in the management of breast cancer. Various studies have shown that breast MRI is more accurate in the assessment of the tumor extent, as well as in the detection of multifocal and multicentric tumors, than are conventional examinations (mammography, ultrasound, and clinical examinations)(10– 16). Because of this greater accuracy, it is expected that breast MRI would increase the rates of complete resection, reduce the number of reoperations and improve the prognosis for such patients, those effects have yet to be consistently demonstrated[17,18,19,20]. The objective of this article was to assess the role of breast MRI in the preoperative staging of breast cancer patients, in the evaluation of the extent of the primary tumor, and in the investigation of additional lesions, as well as its effect on the planning of treatment strategies
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