Morphological Distribution and Internal Enhancement Architecture of Contrast‐Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Diagnosis of Non‐Mass‐Like Breast Lesions: A Meta‐Analysis

The aim of this study is to assess the diagnostic performance of contrast‐enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in patients with non‐mass‐like breast lesions in a meta‐analysis. Literature study was performed on PubMed data base on the diagnostic performance of MR imaging in patients with non‐mass‐like breast lesions. Details of the relevant studies were reviewed and a meta‐analysis was performed to estimate the overall sensitivity and specificity of contrast‐enhanced MR imaging of non‐mass‐like breast lesions. A summary receiver operating characteristic curve (sROC) was developed to explore the threshold effect by ROC space. Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated using Meta‐Disc version 1.4 to analyze the heterogeneity between studies. A total of 858 non‐mass‐like lesions from 15 studies were included in the meta‐analysis (sample size range: 27–131). Pooled weighted estimates of sensitivity and specificity were 50% (95% CI: 46%, 53%) and 80% (95% CI: 77%, 83%), respectively. The heterogeneity among studies was caused by other factors other than threshold effect. The findings were influenced by cancer prevalence (p = 0.0359). Subgroup analyses indicated that the sensitivity and specificity in studies with combined diagnostic criterion was higher than that in studies with single diagnostic criterion. In evaluation of non‐mass‐like breast lesions, contrast‐enhanced MRI has high specificity and relatively lower sensitivity.