Magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosis of indeterminate breast (BIRADS 3 & 4A) in a general population

OBJECTIVE: Currently, mammography and ultrasonography are the most used imaging techniques for breast cancer screening. However, these examinations report many indeterminate studies with a low probability of being malignant, i.e., BIRADS 3 and 4A. This prospective study aims to evaluate the value of breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to clarify the BIRADS categorization of indeterminate mammography or ultrasonography studies. METHODS: MRI studies acquired prospectively from 105 patients previously classified as BIRADS 3 or 4A were analyzed independently by four radiologists with different experience levels. Interobserver agreement was determined by the first-order agreement coefficient (AC1), and divergent results were re-analyzed for consensus. The possible correlation between the MRI and the mammography/ultrasound findings was evaluated, and each study was independently classified in one of the five BIRADS categories (BIRADS 1 to 5). In lesions categorized as BIRADS 4 or 5 at MRI, histopathological diagnosis was established by image-guided biopsy; while short-term follow-up was performed in lesions rated as BIRADS 3. RESULTS: Breast MRI was useful in diagnosing three invasive ductal carcinomas, upgraded from BIRADS 4A to BIRADS 5. It also allowed excluding malignancy in 86 patients (81.9%), avoiding 22 unnecessary biopsies and 64 short-term follow-ups. The MRI showed good diagnostic performance with the area under roc curve, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of 0.995, 100%, 83.5%, 10.5%, and 100%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: MRI showed to be useful as a problem-solving tool to clarify indeterminate findings in breast cancer screening and avoiding unnecessary short-follow-ups and percutaneous biopsies.