Keywords:
Breast, MR, Mammography, Ultrasound, Equipment, Imaging sequences, Technical aspects
Authors:
S. Harms1, B. J. Hillman2, G. Stevens3, R. Stough4, A. Hollingsworth4, K. Kozlowski5, L. Moss6; 1Fayetteville, AR/US, 2Philadelphia, PA/US, 3Bastrop, TX/US, 4Oklahoma City, OK/US, 5Knoxville, TN/US, 6Worcester, MA/US
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2012/B-0799
Conclusion
The dedicated breast MR system led to significantly better diagnostic performance for all case metrics (sensitivity,
specificity,
NPV,
PPV,
and ROC area than has been historically reported for breast MRI employing conventional scanners. There usually is a tradeoff,
such that higher sensitivity is related to lower specificity and vice versa.
In this study,
however,
the dedicated breast MRI system achieved higher sensitivity,
while the false positive rate actually was lower than in studies evaluating breast MRI performed on whole body scanners.
The lack of specificity of breast MR in previous studies increases the ultimate cost of the examination by encouraging redundant testing and unnecessary biopsies,
as well as potentially increasing morbidity and anxiety for the patient.
The false positive rate for diagnostic breast MR studies is typically in the 32-41% range.(1-3) The false positive rate for this study was only 129/871 (14.8%). We attribute the lower false positive rate in this trial to a better ability to discern benign enhancement from truly malignant enhancement due to better spatial and contrast resolution on the dedicated system