[Image-guided breast conserving surgery based on 3D-MRI]

Surgery for breast cancer has changed markedly during the past 20 years. Radical mastectomy, referred to as Halstead's operation, is not commonly performed at present, while breast-conserving surgery (BCS) has become the standard therapy for early breast cancer. In the era of BCS, preoperative evaluation of tumor extension is extremely important. Three-dimensional magnetic resonnance imaging(3D-MRI) is a promising diagnostic method to confirm tumor extension compared with other conventional methods (mammography and ultrasound). Therefore, 3-D MRI can be used to assist image-guided surgery for nonpalpable tumors, which are detected as clustered microcalcifications, or in clinical complete response cases after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.