[MR tomography of the breast. Supplemental information in select cases]

Magnetic resonance tomography (MRT), as the newest imaging procedure in breast diagnosis, has to be compared with the combined use of conventional imaging methods. Many advantages of MRT, which have been emphasized in comparison with mammography, are not superior to the complementary use of mammography and sonography. Additional diagnostic information through MRT is yielded only in the following cases: differentiation between fibrous fibroadenoma of the elderly woman and circumscribed carcinoma with similar mammographic and sonographic appearances; distinction of stellated fibrous scar tissue from the scirrhotic configuration of the more vascular tumour fibrosis around a carcinoma by using contrast medium MRT; differentiation of periductal fibrosis from inflammatory or carcinomatous ductal and periductal infiltration; better delineation of fat or silicon implants. Finally, a significant advantage of mammography over all other imaging methods should be pointed out: the detailed visualization of microcalcifications for the early diagnosis of breast carcinoma.