Efficacy of MR mammography (MRM) in providing preoperative locoregional information on breast cancer: correlation between MRM and histological findings.

Rationale And Objectives: To assess the efficacy of MRM in providing preoperative locoregional information on patients with breast cancer.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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%).

Conclusions: MRM accurately reveals the extent of cancer, including IDS, and is effective at providing preoperative locoregional information for breast-conserving therapy for breast cancer.