Researchers suggested that the quantitative measures derived from synthetic MRI exams could be used to help guide treatment decisions for breast cancer patients.

The new research focused specifically on associations between background parenchymal enhancement—a known risk factor for breast cancer, visualized on surveillance MRI exams—and secondary breast cancers.

MRI-directed contrast enhanced mammography could serve as a useful stand-alone or complimentary tool for biopsy planning when suspicious lesions are detected. 

The new guidelines put emphasis on the age at which average-risk women should begin annual screening and breast assessments.

Experts found that although abbreviated protocols increased the amount of possible scans per hour from 4.7 to 18.8, non-scanning time rose from 50% to 74%.

A recent analysis of 51 patients revealed that contrast-enhanced mammography and MRI offered comparable assessments of lesion size, and both had similar specificity for pathologic complete response.

In addition to CE-MRI's increased sensitivity for identifying breast cancers, the researchers also found the modality had superior negative likelihood ratios with higher pre-test probabilities for safely ruling out malignancy. 

"The present study validated the feasibility of using MRI-based radiomics to identify a disease prone to missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis," experts involved in the study said.