Impact of real-time virtual sonography, a coordinated sonography and MRI system that uses an image fusion technique, on the sonographic evaluation of MRI-detected lesions of the breast in second-look sonography

The aim of this study was to verify the utility of second-look sonography using real-time virtual sonography (RVS)-a coordinated sonography with an MRI system that uses an image fusion technique with magnetic navigation-on the sonographic evaluation of MRI-detected lesions of the breast. Of the 196 consecutive patients who were examined with breast MRI in our hospital from 2006 to 2009, those patients who underwent second-look sonography to identify MRI-detected lesions were enrolled in this study. MRI was performed using a 1.5-T imager with the patient in a supine position. To assess the efficacy benefits of RVS, the correlations between lesion detection rates, MRI features, distribution, and histopathological classification on second-look sonography using conventional B-mode or RVS were analyzed. Of the 196 patients, 55 (28?%) demonstrated 67 lesions initially detected by MRI, followed by second-look sonography. Of the 67 MRI-detected lesions, 18 (30?%) were identified with second-look sonography using conventional B-mode alone, whereas 60 (90?%) lesions were detected with second-look sonography using RVS (p?