FAST breast magnetic resonance imaging: a new approach for breast cancer screening?

OBJECTIVE: To develop an abbreviated breast magnetic resonance imaging protocol (FAST) and to compare it with the complete protocol (FULL) to determine its diagnostic accuracy for detecting malignant or suspicious lesions (BI-RADS 4, 5 and 6) and the time required for image interpretation using BI-RADS categorization. METHODS: Retrospective study with 100 consecutive women who underwent breast magnetic resonance imaging between January and February 2014. All patients were submitted to a complete breast magnetic resonance imaging protocol, which was then compared with an abbreviated protocol (pre-contrast sequence, second post-contrast sequence and subtraction of pre- from post-contrast images). RESULTS: Of 100 patients, 4 were classified as BI-RADS 5 or 6 and 16 as BI-RADS 4. In these 20 patients, there was full agreement among readers regarding the final BI-RADS categorization in both (FAST and FULL) protocols. CONCLUSION: The FAST protocol reduces interpretation time without compromising the accuracy of the method for detection of malignant or suspicious lesions.