A study by Kuhl et al published in Radiology found magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the breast improves depiction of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) components of invasive breast cancers prior to surgery.
The authors performed a prospective two-center study of 593 patients with biopsy proven invasive breast cancer that underwent breast MRI in addition to conventional imaging.
The outcomes showed surgical-pathologic evaluation demonstrated DCIS components in 139 (23%) women. MRI had significantly higher sensitivity in the diagnosis of DCIS components pre-operatively in (84%; 118 women out of 139) than that of conventional imaging, which detected (36%; 51 of the 139 women). More than 50 percent of DCIS components were detected with MRI alone.
The researchers also found the sensitivity benefits of MR imaging over conventional imaging improved with increasing relative size, and with increasing nuclear grade of DCIS components. Positive margin rates were generally low and did not diverge significantly between the 139 women with DCIS components versus the 454 women who lacked them.
The authors concluded that breast MRI improves depiction of DCIS components of invasive breast cancers before surgery.
