Using Magnetic Resonance Techniques to Improve the Characterisation and Localisation of Breast Cancer. A Pilot Observational Study Testing the Accuracy of Multifunctional Magnetic Resonance Techniques in Predicting the Presence, Distribution and Nature of Breast Lesions in Women With Known Breast Cancer

OBJECTIVES:

• To determine the accuracy of multifunctional magnetic resonance (MR) in detecting, localizing, and characterizing satellite lesions in relation to an index breast tumor in order to improve definition of clinical target volume after local excision.

OUTLINE: Patients receive an injection of gadolinium chelate and undergo multifunctional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, including dynamic contrast-enhanced MR, hydrogen-MR spectroscopy, and diffusion-weighted MRI, of the ipsilateral breast within 4 weeks before surgery. Patients undergo a mastectomy as planned. The resected specimen is photographed, and a histopathological analysis is performed consisting of the size and grade (if pre-invasive or invasive disease) of each satellite lesion, classification of benign satellite lesions, dimensions of each lesion, distance from the edge of the index tumor to the center of each satellite lesion, and the distance from the center of the surface of the nipple to the center of each lesion.