ABSTRACT
Breast MRI is a complex examination. It has evolved over the past decade and a half from a purely experimental technique to a clinical tool with a range of indications. A review of the published literature on breast MRI, and indeed a glance through this book, will confirm that breast MRI is not one single technique, but rather a collection of techniques, tailored to answer particular clinical questions. Personal preference and experience have no doubt shaped some of these MRI techniques. In other cases, the technical capabilities of a particular imaging set-up will have determined exactly what variation of the breast MRI technique is employed. It is likely that this varied approach has been fruitful in the development of breast MRI. However, it is also true to say that the credibility of the technique has suffered, because of the lack of a consensus on both the ‘best’ way to perform breast MRI and the ‘best’ way to interpret it. In the last few years some attempt has been made to address these issues. A group funded by the US Public Health Service’s Office on Women’s Health was formed and met in 1998, calling itself the International Working Group on Breast MRI. This group, consisting of radiologists experienced in both the research aspects and the clinical use of breast MRI, was further divided into separate ‘working parties’, to address specific issues in relation to the technique. A series of preliminary reports was published in 1999 (Harms 1999). One such group, the ‘Lesion Diagnosis Working Group’, addressed the important issue of how the breast MRI examination should be interpreted (Schnall and Ikeda 1999).
