A clinical oncology perspective on the use of breast MR.

MR imaging of the breast detects additional carcinoma in as many as 30% of women thought to have localized disease by clinical examination and mammography. This has led some to advocate its routine use in the preoperative evaluation of breast cancer patients. However, local failure rates in patients selected for breast conservation by conventional methods are less than 5% at 10 years, suggesting that he majority of this disease is controlled with radiotherapy. The potential role of MR in the preoperative evaluation and postoperative follow-up of patients with early-stage breast cancer is discussed.