New Method of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Distinguishes Benign from Malignant Breast Lesions.

2001 AUG 23 - (NewsRx Network) -- A team of researchers has put to the test a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequence for assessing mammographic abnormalities that can distinguish accurately among benign, premalignant, and malignant lesions.

According to the researchers, this breast MRI method appears to be 95% accurate and holds promise to reduce unnecessary biopsies among women with benign abnormalities.

The method believed to be best for detecting breast carcinoma in its early stages is mammography screening. However, although approximately 75% of the lesions detected by mammography are benign, patients usually undergo additional medical procedures (including biopsy) that are unnecessary and excessive for the majority of them. Recent research has suggested that MRI can be used to distinguish malignant from benign mammographic abnormalities, thereby eliminating the need for biopsy in women with benign lesions. As a result of advances in MRI technology, several breast MRI methods are currently available, but to the authors' knowledge there has been little consensus among researchers with regard to the optimal method.

First author P. Vijay, senior author Matthew S. Pollack, MD, from Valley Diagnostic Imaging in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and their colleagues employed a progressive, hitherto unpublished MRI method that incorporates the best qualities of other standard breast MRI methods while eliminating some of the drawbacks associated with each of these techniques. They described their work in the journal Cancer ("Improved accuracy in differentiating malignant from benign mammographic abnormalities: a simple, improved magnetic resonance imaging method," Cancer, August 1, 2001;92(3):471-478).

The researchers analyzed a group of 59 women, ranging in age from 33-89 years, who had a total of 61 mammographic abnormalities requiring biopsy. All diagnostic biopsies were performed within one month of the MRI scans to allow for accurate pathologic correlation. The 61 suspicious lesions were evaluated with a fat-suppressed, T1-weighted, three-dimensional, fast low-angle shot sequence before and after the administration of gadolinum contrast agent. This MRI method eliminates the use of "dynamic" rapid scan techniques that require complicated ...