The Reading Room Podcast: Current and Emerging Insights on Abbreviated Breast MRI, Part 1

Pointing out that there has been a fair amount of “bloat” in many magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocols over the years, Habib Rahbar, M.D., said in a new Diagnostic Imaging podcast episode that abbreviated breast MRI represents a paradigm shift away from getting as many images as possible to paring down to the most essential sequences for review.

“ … Magnet time is increasingly important. MRI demands are extremely important. It's expensive. You know, time is money. Access to patients is really important. What we've learned is all those additional series probably aren't that valuable for the vast majority of patients, and that's really, overall, the overarching concept around abbreviated MRI to me,” noted Dr. Rahbar, a professor and executive vice chair of radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Stamatia Destounis, M.D., the chair of the American College of Radiology’s Breast Imaging Commission, said she started utilizing abbreviated breast MRI in 2000, and has worked with colleagues over the years to reduce breast MRI exams from 27 minutes to 12 to 13 minutes.

“If you look at the multiple publications on abbreviated MR (with) some of them comparing even to full MR, the sensitivity is really pretty good, so I think there's a lot of room to skinny down our protocols to abbreviated or ultrafast (MRI), and still maintain our very good cancer detection rate,” added Emily Conant, M.D., a professor emeritus with the Department of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Dr. Destounis concurred, noting that abbreviated breast MRI provides more of an optimal balance of sensitivity for breast cancer detection and increased patient comfort.

“Hands down, if you can do it, (MRI is) the best test, whether it's abbreviated or full protocol, but everyone is more interested in the abbreviated protocol for patient comfort, and the ability for the patient to tolerate it,” emphasized Dr. Destounis, the Managing Partner of Elizabeth Wende Breast Care in Rochester, New York.

(Editor’s note: For related content, see “Abbreviated MRI and Contrast-Enhanced Mammography Provide Fourfold Higher Cancer Detection than Breast Ultrasound,” “Study: Abbreviated Breast MRI Offers Equivalent Accuracy to mpMRI for Women with Dense Breasts” and “Can Abbreviated Breast MRI Have an Impact in Assessing Post-Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response?”)

For more insights from Dr. Destounis, Dr. Conant and Dr. Rahbar, listen below or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.