Clinical and MRI variables associated with close or positive margins during breast-conserving surgery using MRI...

To evaluate the utility of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) projection mapping system (PMS) for determining the resection lines during breast-conserving surgery (BCS) in patients with breast cancer presenting with nonmass enhancement (NME) and identify the clinical or MRI variables associated with close or positive margins.

Forty-one patients with breast cancer exhibiting NME were enrolled. In the operating room, a maximum intensity projection image generated from supine MRI was projected onto the breast using a PMS, which employed a structured light method to measure the surface of the breast. Cancer contours delineated on the MRI-PMS, with an additional safety margin, served as the resection lines for cylindrical BCS. Margins were pathologically categorized as negative (> 2 mm), close (≤ 2 mm), or positive. The association between margin status and clinical or MRI variables was analyzed.

Surgical margins were negative in 24 patients (58.5 %), close in 15 (36.6 %), and positive in 2 (4.9 %). There were significant differences in the maximum diameter of nonmass components (NMCs) shown by pathology, that of NME on MRI, and the discrepancy between the two diameters between patients with negative margin and those with close or positive margin (< 0.05 for all). Receiver operating characteristics revealed that threshold of 40 mm for NMEs provided high specificity of 91.7 %.

The MRI-PMS led to a low rate of positive margins during BCS in patients with breast cancer with NMEs. Large NMCs and NMEs are associated with positive or close margin.