The Role of MR Mammography in Differentiating Benign from Malignant in Suspicious Breast Masses

Magnetic Resonance (MR) Mammography is being increasingly used now-a-days for the evaluation of breast lesions.

To find out the effectiveness and the exact role of MR mammography in differentiating benign lesions from malignant lesions in patients with palpable, suspicious breast masses found on routine conventional imaging techniques.

It was a prospective study wherein patients with suspicious breast lesions were subjected to MR mammography. The morphological feature (smooth vs irregular margin) and the enhancement patterns (Type Ia/Ib vs Type II vs Type III) of the lesions were assessed and finally the effectiveness of MR mammography in differentiating benign and malignant lesions was judged by taking the histopathological diagnosis as the gold standard.

A total of 33 patients with 35 breast lesions were finally analysed. The sensitivity, specificity, Positive Predictive Value (PPV) and the Negative Predictive Value (NPV) in differentiating benign from malignant breast lesion for the type of margin on MR mammography was 95.45%, 84.6%, 91.3% and 91.7%, while for the type of enhancement curve it was 76.2%, 90.9%, 94.1% and 66.7% respectively. The sensitivity and negative predictive value for the type of margins was statistically better when compared to the type of enhancement curve in differentiating benign from malignant lesions but the specificity and PPV though better for the type of enhancement curve was not found to be statistically significant.

MR mammography was found to be an effective tool in differentiating benign from malignant suspicious breast lesions. The type of margin and the enhancement patterns both individually and in combination provide the clinicians with ample information so as to decide on further management.