Abbreviated (Fast) Breast MRI Protocol versus Full Diagnostic Breast MRI in Diagnosis of Breast Cancer

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has possible value in early breast cancer identification. Recently, magnetic resonance imaging was utilized as a supplementary investigation technique for breast screening in elevated-possibility populations.
Aim: This study aimed to offer an enhanced diagnosis of cancer, a reduced scan period, and a reduced expense compared to full diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging through abbreviated guidelines for breast MRI.
Patients and methods: This was a cross-sectional research conducted on forty cases of suspected breast cancer attending The Radiology Departments. Patients underwent full diagnostic MRI as well as fast MRI. Informed written consents were obtained from cases that participated in the research.
Results: The sensitivity of Abbreviated Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (AB-MRI) tended to be reduced compared to that of Full Diagnostic Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FD-MRI) (83.3% [10/12] vs. 100% [12/12]). The specificity of abbreviated breast magnetic resonance imaging was significantly greater in comparison with that of full diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging (42.9% [12/28] vs. 35.7% [10/28]).
Conclusion: FD-MRI and AB-MRI showed fair agreement in Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System (BI-RAD) categorization, moderate agreement in shape and internal enhancement patterns, and substantial agreement in margin, enhancement characteristics, and distribution of benign lesions. For malignant lesions, both methods showed moderate to substantial agreement across most imaging features, with perfect agreement in BI-RADS classification. AB-MRI had lower sensitivity than FD-MRI (83.3% vs. 100%) but significantly higher specificity (42.9% vs. 35.7%).