[Preoperative MR-mammography in diagnosed breast carcinoma. Useful information or useless extravagance?]

In a retrospective study the value of MR mammography in cases of radiological well-known carcinoma of the breast was evaluated preoperatively in 76 cases of histopathologically verified carcinoma one lesion was missed by MR imaging. Compared to the results of conventional X-ray mammography additional malignant lesions were detected in 5 patients ipsilaterally and in another 8 patients contralaterally by MR mammography only. In additional 4 cases MR mammography demonstrated suspicious lesions contralaterally, but histopathology revealed benign lesions. The therapeutic procedure was changed in 15 cases (18.5%) due to the findings of MR imaging: Ipsilateral mastectomy instead of tumorectomy (n = 5) or primary chemotherapy instead of operation (n = 1); contralateral additional tumorectomy (n = 3) or mastectomy (n = 2) by carcinoma and open biopsy (n = 4) by benign finding.