Metastases to the breast from rhabdomyosarcoma: appearances on MRI

The authors report a case of blood-borne bilateral metastatic breast disease of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) in a 21-year-old patient. The possibilities of mammography, ultrasound, and MRI in the early detection of breast metastases and their appearance on these modalities are discussed. Whereas mammography rendered no additional information due to dense breast parenchyma and ultrasound showed only a solitary tumor without definite criteria of malignancy, multifocal bilateral spread was verified with MRI and early ring-like enhancement suggested malignancy. Therefore, we conclude that MRI may provide useful information in evaluating patients with sarcomas, even when there is no clinical evidence for metastatic disease of the breast.