3T MRI Identifies Early Breast Cancer Not Seen on Mammography and Ultrasound

3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a powerful technology for evaluating patients with a high risk of having breast cancer, can detect a significant number of lesions not found on mammography and ultrasound.

The study included 434 women who underwent mammography, sonography, and 3T MRI for the detection of malignant breast lesions--all women were at high risk. Results revealed that 3T MRI detected 66/66 malignant lesions; mammography detected 54/66 malignant lesions; and sonography detected 57/66 malignant lesions. "3T MRI depicted a significantly higher number of malignant tumors of the breast than mammography and sonography,” stated Haitham Elsamaloty, M.D., from the University of Toledo Medical Center (Toledo, OH, USA), and lead author of the study. "Our study detected ‘early' breast cancer [lesions as small as 4 mm] in size and also identified malignant lesions that were only detected by MRI and confirmed by MRI-guided biopsy.

These key findings led to a significant change in patient management in 18.2% of the cases in the study. "Our study suggests an important role for 3T MRI in such high-risk groups for an early diagnosis of breast cancer and better accuracy in evaluating the extent of disease--a crucial factor in appropriate therapy planning,” said Dr. Elsamaloty. "High-field strength [3T] MRI systems are becoming increasingly available in the clinical setting and more of them are being used for the evaluation of breast malignancy. 3T MRI is an important addition to mammography and ultrasound.”

The study was published in the April 2009 issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR).

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University of Toledo Medical Center