The Use of High Resolution MR Imaging for Pre-treatment Evaluation of Breast Cancer: Detection of intraductal spread

Thirty-two patients were examined in order to evaluate the role of high-resolution MRI in the treatment planning of breast cancer. A 1.5T Signa imager (GE Medical Systems) was used with dedicated receive-only breast coil. The pulse sequence based on RARE was used with the fat-suppression technique. After examining both breasts with larger FOV (30 cm), the affected breast alone was examined with smaller FOV (18cm) and larger matrix (512 × 384) with Gd enhancement. Breast cancer showed more prominent and earlier enhancement compared with normal breast tissue. Linear or spotty continuous enhancement from the main tumor was considered to be suggestive of intraductal spread. Of 32 patients, 20 showed linear or spotty enhancement around the main tumor on MRI, and 15 of these 20 had intraductal spread. On the other hand, 12 out of 32 patients were considered to have little intraductal spread on MRI. and these findings corresponded to the pathological findings. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of detecting intraductal spread were 88%, 75% and 78%. respectively. In order to evaluate the extent of intraductal spread, further study using more precise correlation with pathology is necessary. High-resolution MRI was also considered to be useful for evaluating the presence of multifocal or multicentric focies or muscle invasion.