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Fibroadenoma of the breast: in vivo magnetic resonance characterization

1991; Elsevier BV; Volume: 13; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0720-048x(91)90087-c

1872-7727

Thomas E. Merchant, Peter W. de Graaf, C. W. E. A. Nieuwenhuizen, H. C. E. Kievit, Chris J.G. Bakker, Willem Den Otter,

Breast Cancer Treatment Studies

Fibroadenoma is a common benign tumor of the breast which is well characterized mammographically [ 11, sonographically [2] and by physical examination. In spite of being well characterized, its presence as a tumor provokes surgical evaluation. Even though the presence of a libroadenoma is not associated with any increased risk for the development of a primary malignant tumor of the breast [3], most surgical textbooks state that excision is mandatory [4,5]. The removal of these lesions results in deformity, morbidity and expenditure of resources; nevertheless, any perceived risk of malignancy by the patient and a conservative clinical attitude are responsible for a large number of surgical procedures for this benign condition [6]. Except in cases where a fibroadenoma causes the patient physical or psychological discomfort by its presence, if a technique were developed to characterize libroadenomas more specifically in vivo, unnecessary surgery could possibly be avoided, especially in young women. Early studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) attempted to characterize fibroadenomas in vivo on the basis of characteristic morphology, signal intensity, T, and T, relaxation times and enhancement with paramagnetic contrast [7-171. While the findings of these studies did improve the MR image characteri-