ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a dedicated software tool for automated volume measurement of breast lesions in contrast-enhanced (CE) magnetic resonance mammography (MRM). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The size of 52 breast lesions with a known histopathological diagnosis (three benign, 49 malignant) was automatically evaluated using different techniques. The volume of all lesions was measured automatically (AVM) from CE 3D MRM examinations by means of a computer-aided detection (CAD) system and compared with the size estimates based on maximum diameter measurement (MDM) on MRM, ultrasonography (US), mammography and histopathology. RESULTS: Compared with histopathology as the reference method, AVM understimated lesion size by 4% on average. This result was similar to MDM (3% understimation, not significantly different) but significantly better than US and mammographic lesion measurements (24% and 33% size underestimation, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: AVM is as accurate as MDM but faster. Both methods are more accurate for size assessment of breast lesions compared with US and mammography.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms/diagnosis , Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating/diagnosis , Carcinoma, Lobular/diagnosis , Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Mammography , Adult , Aged , Breast Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Breast Neoplasms/pathology , Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/diagnosis , Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating/diagnostic imaging , Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating/pathology , Carcinoma, Lobular/diagnostic imaging , Carcinoma, Lobular/pathology , Contrast Media , Female , Humans , Mammography/methods , Middle Aged , Predictive Value of Tests , Retrospective Studies , Sensitivity and Specificity , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to describe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) patterns in 21 patients with histologically proven invasive lobular cancer (ILC) of the breast. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed MR images of 21 out of 24 women with ILC of the breast. Three women were excluded from the study because they underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy after MRI. Thirteen of the 24 women had positive clinical findings. All 24 patients underwent mammography, sonography and MRI. MRI was performed to evaluate disease extent and multifocality/multicentricity before modified radical mastectomy (n=5) or quadrantectomy (n=16). Two experienced radiologists reviewed the MRI scans and described the tumour patterns. RESULTS: We identified five morphological patterns of ILC: a solitary mass with irregular margins (n=8); a mass with smooth margins (n=5); multiple small enhancing foci with interconnecting enhancing strands (n=4); dominant lesion surrounded by small foci (n=3); one MR examination was negative. CONCLUSIONS: Architectural and dynamic features are important in the interpretation of breast MRI findings. ILC may be detected on MRI as solitary or multiple lesions that correspond to tumour morphology on pathologic examination. False-negative MRI findings do occur in a small percentage of ILC.
