Amornsiripanitch N, et al. - The visibility of mammographically occult breast cancers on diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) versus ultrasound is explored in this study. The outcome suggests that the DWI may detect more mammographically occult cancers than ultrasound, warranting further examination as an optional supplemental screening technique.

Methods

• Mammographically occult breast cancers (n=60) initially detected on contrast-enhanced MRI that underwent pre-biopsy targeted ultrasound were retrospectively assessed for visibility on DWI and ultrasound.

Results

• In this study, a greater number of cancers were noticeable on DWI than ultrasound (78% vs. 63%; p=0.049), with 32 (53%) visible on both and 7 (12%) not visible on either.
• Visibility differences were more significant in larger lesions (92% vs. 68%, p=0.006).