Effectiveness of dynamic MRI for diagnosing pericicatricial minimal residual breast cancer following excisional biopsy

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of dynamic M RI for diagnosing pericicatricial minimal residual breast cancer following excisional biopsy. Twenty-six patients who underwent excisional biopsy of a tumor or calcified lesion of the breast underwent gadolinium-enhanced dyna mic MRI by the fat-saturated 2D fast spoiled gradient echo (SPGR) sequence (group 1), 24 patients by the spectral IR enhanced 3D fast gradient echo (E fgre3d) sequence (group 2). Pericicatricial residual cancer was confirmed h istologically in 29 of the 50 patients. The overall sensitivity, specificit y, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of MR I for residual cancer diagnosis was 66, 81, 72, 83 and 63%. A nodular, thic k and discontinuous enhanced rim around the scar is indicative of a residua l tumor. However, false-positive findings due to granulation or proliferati ve fibrocystic change remain limitations. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.