Postop Breast MRI Features May Predict Risk for Second Breast Cancer

FRIDAY, Sept. 2, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- For women with a personal history of breast cancer, background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) at surveillance breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is associated with an increased risk for a subsequent second breast cancer, according to a study published online Aug. 30 in Radiology.

Su Hyun Lee, M.D., Ph.D., from the Seoul National University Hospital in South Korea, and colleagues conducted a retrospective search of the imaging database of an academic medical center and identified consecutive surveillance breast MRI examinations performed between January 2008 and December 2017 in women who underwent surgery for primary breast cancer. A four-category classification of minimal, mild, moderate, or marked was used to qualitatively assess BPE at surveillance breast MRI.

The researchers found that at a median follow-up of 5.8 years, 109 of the 2,668 women developed a second breast cancer. Independent associations with an increased risk for future second breast cancer were seen for mild, moderate, or marked BPE at surveillance breast MRI (hazard ratio, 2.1), young age (younger than 45 years) at initial breast cancer diagnosis (hazard ratio, 3.4), positive results from a BRCA1/2 genetic test (hazard ratio, 6.5), and negative hormone receptor expression in the initial breast cancer (hazard ratio, 1.6).

"Further studies in larger multi-institution data sets are needed to validate BPE at surveillance breast MRI as an imaging marker for stratifying the risk of second breast cancer in women with a personal history of breast cancer and establishing personalized imaging surveillance strategies," the authors write.

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