Abbreviated breast MRI in women with a personal history of breast cancer is more sensitive for the diagnosis of a second breast cancer than mammography or ultrasound, according to a study published June 23 in Academic Radiology.
Additionally, the modality shows better performance on subsequent rounds of screening, wrote a team led by Dr. Seung Jin Baek of CHA University in Seongnam, South Korea.
Baek's group compared abbreviated breast MRI with mammography and ultrasound for screening women with a personal history of breast cancer. The study included 939 abbreviated breast MRI scans of 710 women. When more than one abbreviated breast MRI exam was conducted, the team compared the results.
The study found 15 cases of second breast cancers, or 2.1% of the cohort. Of the 939 abbreviated breast MRI exams, 39 produced positive results; of these, 11 were breast cancer, resulting in a positive predictive value of biopsies recommended (PPV2) of 28.2% for breast MRI. PPV2 for ultrasound was 19%, and for mammography, it was 28.6%.
The group also found that the area under the receiver operating curve (AUC), sensitivity, and cancer detection rate per 1,000 women were highest for abbreviated breast MRI (0.829, 68.8%, and 11.7, respectively) compared with ultrasound (0.616, 25%, and 4.3) and mammography (0.560, 12.5%, and 2.1). Of the total cohort, 200 women underwent multiple breast MRI exams, and the subsequent exams showed higher AUC, PPV2, and cancer detection rates, the researchers wrote.
