Additional Cancers Found by Preoperative MRI After Breast Cancer Detection by Ultrasound

Preoperative MR imaging can help detect additional sites of cancer in women whose breast cancer was detected at screening ultrasound, according to a study published in the journal Radiology.

Korean researchers performed a retrospective review to determine additional cancer yield of MR imaging in women who had breast cancer that had been detected through screening ultrasonography and to identify a subgroup of women who are likely to benefit from preoperative MR imaging.

A total of 374 women with a median age of 48 years were included in the study. All had breast cancer detected at screening ultrasound; 321 of the women had invasive breast cancer. Following MR imaging, 21 of the 374 (5.6 percent) were diagnosed with additional cancer (positive predictive value of biopsy, 42.0 percent) and index invasive lobular cancer (ILC) histologic type was significantly associated with additional cancer detected at MR imaging. Two factors associated with detection of additional cancers by MRI among women with index invasive cancer were premenopausal status and lobular histologic type.

The researchers concluded that preoperative MR imaging helped to detect additional sites of cancer among some women with breast cancer detected at screening US. “Women with index ILC and premenopausal women are more likely to benefit from preoperative MR imaging,” they wrote.