Combining MR Spectroscopy with MR Reduces Breast Biopsy Rate
The current issue of the journal Radiology describes use of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MR spectroscopy) along with standard MR to evaluate and diagnose patients with breast cancer. Study findings indicate that the combination of the two imaging modalities can reduce the number of false positive findings.
A series of 32 female patients with non-mass enhancing breast lesions at least 1cm in size noted with MR imaging then underwent imaging with MR spectroscopy. 25 of those patients had lesions that were considered suspicious based on information obtained with the original scan. All the patients also underwent biopsy of the lesion.
Interpretation of spectroscopy was determined by considering the signal-to-noise ratio. Interpretation from the imaging evaluations were then compared to histopathologic assessment as the gold standard.
The average age of the participants was 48.5 years. Lesion average size was 2.8 cm. Pathology findings revealed that 12 of the masses were cancerous and 20 benign. Positive findings from MR spectroscopy were present in all the malignant cases and three that were not malignant.
The resulting sensitivity of MR spectroscopy is 100 percent and specificity 85 percent for the detection of non mass lesions that did not exhibit enhancement with MRI. The researchers note that MR spectroscopy can contribute to interpretation of imaging studies and reduce the incidence of unwarranted biopsies. In fact, biopsy would have been ruled out in 68 percent of lesions without missing any cases of breast cancer.
September 26, 2007 Related topics: Imaging, Diagnostic, Radiology