MRI to Diagnose Pure DCIS?

About half of biopsy-proven high-grade DCIS that was visualized with MRI was mammographically occult.

The widely held hypothesis that life-threatening invasive ductal carcinoma always arises from ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is yet to be proven, but most experts believe that early eradication of DCIS will result in prevention of at least some cases of invasive carcinoma. Mammography is the standard method for diagnosing DCIS, whereas magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was shown in earlier studies to be less sensitive in detecting microcalcifications, which are mammographic hallmarks of DCIS. However, whether MRI might be useful in women who have certain types of mammographically occult DCIS is unclear.

Investigators evaluated the sensitivity of mammography and breast MRI in a single-center German study, in which 7319 average- or high-risk p…

Reviewing Author

Henry Mark Kuerer, MD, PhD, FACS

Disclosures

Speaker's BureauPhysicians’ Education Resource, LLC

RoyaltiesMcGraw-Hill Professional; UpToDate, Inc.

Editorial BoardsAnnals of Surgical Oncology

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Breast Surgeons (Chair, Publications Committee)