Breast MRI: patterns of utilization and impact on patient management in the community hospital setting.

Objective: The objective of our study was to investigate the indications for breast magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, in our community hospital, determine how many probably benign MRI findings were malignant at follow-up, determine how many cancers were identified by MRI in screening patients, and evaluate the utility of MRI for surgical planning and problem-solving.

Materials And Methods: Five hundred twenty-eight contrast-enhanced MRI's of the breast in 434 patients were retrospectively reviewed. MRI images/reports were compared to surgical pathology reports and the results of follow-up studies.