MRI-guided interventions of the breast

Abstract

MRI has proven to be a very reliable diagnostic tool in the detection and differential diagnosis of breast lesions. Some lesions are, even in retrospect, not detectable in x-ray or ultrasound images but MRI is able to detect lesions at a much smaller size than the average size of lesions depicted by x-ray and ultrasound. The aim in the future is to develop combined procedures where imaging, biopsy, and interventional therapies are combined in a single outpatient procedure. As a step toward this goal different interventional procedures are useful that include interstitial laser therapy (ILT), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), microwave ablation therapy, and cryotherapy. In this overview the main features and initial results of these procedures are described and discussed.