MRI Detects Additional Breast Cancers After Conservation Therapy

Single-screening MRI found additional cancers among women with a history of breast conservation therapy (BCT), according to a study published in the journal Radiology.

Korean researchers undertook a retrospective study to determine the outcomes of single-screening breast MRI in women who had a history of BCT for breast cancers.

The study group comprised 607 women (median age 48 years) who underwent BCT for breast cancer, had negative mammography and US findings, and underwent subsequent screening breast MR imaging. A total of 557 women (91.8 percent) underwent preoperative MR examinations. The researchers assessed cancer detection rate, characteristics of detected cancers, positive predictive value (PPV), sensitivity, and specificity.

Results showed additional findings by MRI of 11 cancers (eight invasive, three ductal carcinoma in situ) for 18.1 cancers per 1,000 women. The median invasive size was 0.8 cm (range, 0.4–1.4 cm). All were node negative. PPV for recall was 9.4 percent (11 of 117 examinations; PPV for biopsy: 43.5 percent (10 of 23 examinations); sensitivity: 91.7 percent (11 of 12 examinations); and specificity: 82.2 percent (489 of 595 examinations).

“At multivariate analysis, the independent factors associated with women with MR-detected cancers were age younger than 50 years at initial diagnosis and more than a 24-month interval between initial surgery and screening MR imaging,” the authors wrote.