Preoperative breast magnetic resonance imaging: controversies arising in the quest to evaluate clinical benefit

Breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is indisputably the highest sensitivity test available to detect breast cancer, revealing more extensive cancer in the ipsilateral and otherwise occult cancer in the contralateral breasts when used before surgery. The use of preoperative breast MRI has become somewhat controversial, because the clinical benefit of the heightened detection provided by MRI has been questioned in the context of multidisciplinary breast cancer treatment, relatively low local recurrence, and metachronous contralateral cancer rates. Also, MRI detection rates have been compared with the high rates reported in the pathology literature. The emerging clinical outcome literature is showing conflicting results to demonstrating actual overall benefit. Critical review of this literature reveals several misconceptions about MRI detection rates and limitations of many of the published outcome studies to date, which render the results not necessarily generalizable to contemporary optimized breast MRI practices. This article addresses some of the misconceptions raised by critics, provides a critical review of the clinical outcome literature, reviews patient subgroups anticipated to have the highest yield when using preoperative MRI, makes recommendations for optimizing breast MRI practice, and suggests areas for potential future research.