Role of Breast MRI in the Preoperative Evaluation of Patients with Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer

Role of Breast MRI in the Preoperative Evaluation of Patients with Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer
Amy M. Schell, Kari Rosenkranz, and Petra J. Lewis
AJR 2009;192:1438-1444

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MRI detected additional suspicious previously unsuspected lesions in 74 patients (37%). Fifty-four of these lesions, in 38 patients (19%), were identified as malignant, of which 41 (76%) were invasive. Retrospective review of the MRI-identified ipsilateral malignant lesions resulted in hypothetical recommendations that would have altered the surgical treatment of 26 of the patients (13%), principally as mastectomy or wider excision.

For patients with a new diagnosis of breast cancer, breast MRI in a mid-sized regional hospital depicts unsuspected malignant lesions in both the ipsilateral and contralateral breasts in proportions consistent with the results of earlier studies at larger institutions. Whether clinical outcome is improved by changes in surgical management consequent to MRI detection of unsuspected malignant lesions remains unproven