Feasibility of MRI-guided large-core-needle biopsy of suspiscious breast lesions at 3 T

Feasibility of MRI-guided large-core-needle biopsy of suspiscious breast lesions at 3 T
Nicky H. G. M. Peters, Carla Meeuwis, Chris J. G. Bakker, Willem P. Th. M. Mali, Arancha M. Fernandez-Gallardo, Richard Hillegersberg, Marguerite E. I. Schipper, Maurice A. A. J. Bosch
Eur Radiol (2009) 19: 1639–1644

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The feasibility of large-core-needle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided breast biopsy at 3 T was assessed. Thirty-one suspicious breast lesions shown only by MRI were detected in 30 patients. Biopsy procedures were performed in a closed-bore 3-T clinical MR system on a dedicated phased-array breast coil with a commercially available add-on stereotactic biopsy device. Tissue sampling was technically successful in 29/31 (94%) lesions. Median lesion size (n  = 29) was 9 mm. Histopathological analysis showed 19 benign lesions (66%) and one inconclusive biopsy result (3%). At follow-up of these lesions, 15 lesions showed no malignancy, no information was available in three patients and two lesions turned out to be malignant (one lesion at surgical excision 1 month after biopsy and one lesion at a second biopsy because of a more malignant enhancement curve at 12-months follow-up MRI). Nine biopsy results showed a malignant lesion (31%) which were all surgically removed. No complications occurred.

MRI-guided biopsy at 3 T is a safe and effective method for breast biopsy in lesions that are occult on mammography and ultrasound. Follow-up MRI at 6 months after the biopsy should be performed in case of a benign biopsy result