Preliminary Results of a Simplified Breast MRI Protocol to Characterize Breast Lesions

Publication date: Available online 1 June 2017
Source:Academic Radiology
Author(s): Valeria Romeo, Renato Cuocolo, Raffaele Liuzzi, Albina Riccardi, Antonello Accurso, Alessandra Acquaviva, Roberta Buonocore, Massimo Imbriaco
Rationale and ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate whether a simplified breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol consisting of a localizer, one precontrast sequence, and three time-point postcontrast sequences (at 28 seconds, 84 seconds and 252 seconds after the contrast agent administration) is suitable for the characterization of breast lesions as compared to a full diagnostic protocol (FDP). This study also aimed to review the current literature concerning abbreviated breast MRI protocols and offer an alternative protocol.Materials and MethodsBreast magnetic resonance (MR) examinations with detected breast lesions of 98 patients were retrospectively evaluated. Two expert radiologists in consensus reviewed the simplified breast protocol (SBP) first and only thereafter the regular FDP, recording a diagnosis for each detected lesion for both protocols. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to determine the diagnostic performance of the SBP compared to the standard FDP. A revision of the previously reported abbreviated breast magnetic resonance protocols was also carried out.ResultsA total of 180 lesions were identified; of these, 110 (61%) were malignant and 70 (39%) were benign. Of the 110 malignant lesions, 86 (78%) were invasive ductal carcinoma, 18 (16%) were invasive lobular carcinoma, and 6 (6%) were ductal carcinoma in situ. Areas under the curve for the receiver operating characteristic curves for the SBP vs the FDP were equivalent (0.98 vs 0.99, respectively; P = 0.76). The SBP could be performed in approximately 6 minutes and 58 seconds, compared to 14 minutes and 48 seconds for the FDP.ConclusionsAn SBP protocol including a late postcontrast time point is accurate for the characterization of breast lesions and was comparable to the standard FDP protocol, allowing a potential reduction of the total acquisition and interpretation times.



http://ift.tt/2rrgd4D