The importance of magnetic resonance imaging in multifocal/multicentric breast cancers

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the sensitivity of diagnostic tools in detection of multicentric/multifocal foci in breast cancer.

Patients and Methods: The study is conducted retrospectively in 209 breast cancer patients operated in our clinic between 2006 – 2009 to detect multicentric/multifocal tumors. The ages of patients, the number of tumor foci, the sizes of tumor foci and the invasiveness of the carcinoma have been identified. Evaluation of the sensitivity of the diagnostic methods in detecting the tumor foci was performed based on the pathological reports of the breast cancer patients.

Results: Forty patients out of the 209 breast cancer cases were detected to have multifocal/multicentric tumor foci and the number of foci detected was 88. The mean age of the patients was 54.1±14.87 years and the age range was 33 – 87 years. The most prominent number of foci is 2 (85%). The tumor was invasive in nature in 81.8% of the foci. The most sensitive imaging technique to detect the multifocal/ multicentric foci was magnetic resonance imaging (94.3%). The sensitivity of ultrasonography, mammography and physical examination in detection of multifocal/multicentric foci were 80.7%, 78.4% and 48.9%, respectively. Moreover, magnetic resonance imaging was found to be successful in detecting all tumor foci over 5 mm in size, independently from the invasiveness of the carcinoma.

Conclusion: Magnetic resonance imaging is a successful imaging method in effective surgical treatment of breast cancer for detecting multifocal/multicentric tumor foci.