Keywords:
Breast, Abdomen, Oncology, MR, Mammography, Ultrasound, Diagnostic procedure, Screening, Dosimetry, Cancer, Dosimetric comparison, Radiotherapy techniques
Authors:
J. C. Benson1, K. Brattain2, J. Williams2, P. Bolan1, M. Nelson1; 1Minneapolis, MN/US, 2Minneapolis/US
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2018/C-0118
Aims and objectives
Some breast implants used for cosmetic and post-reconstruction surgery now contain radiofrequency identification (RFID) chips.
These chips can be used to provide information about the implanted object,
and can be read using a RFID reader positioned nearby.
A recent study of the use of RFID chips found them to be a safe and effective method in the wireless localization of breast lesions.1 Becauase these clips will likely become increasingly common in breast radiology, it is important for diagnostic radiologists to become familiar breast screening difficulties posed by these clips.
Namely,
the RFID chip contains a ferric core that causes a significant artifact on MR images.
The resulting artifact can potentially obscure various types of nearby pathology,
including malignancy,
infection,
and implant rupture.
Hence,
evaluation of the adjacent breast parenchyma can be significantly limited in patients whose breast implants contain these chips,
potentially lowering the efficacy of MRI screening in high-risk breast cancer patients.
The aim of this study was to assess the use of ultrasound and tomosynthesis in the evaluation of the area obscured by the aforementioned MR artifact.
In doing so,
the authors sought to propose a multi-modality method of evaluating patients with RFID chips in breast implants.