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Studies suggest that magnetic resonance (MR) imaging may have a variety of roles in the detection and management of breast disease. However, because study methods and imaging techniques are not standard, there is still a great deal of uncertainty about its place in clinical practice. The authors review the current state of breast MR imaging and address a number of issues, including the basis for contrast material-enhanced imaging, techniques, and possible clinical roles, including treatment planning, evaluation of the posttreatment breast, evaluation of breast implants, characterization of breast masses, MR imaging-guided biopsy, and the potential for cancer screening. Although it is premature to recommend the routine use of breast MR imaging, contrast-enhanced MR imaging has potential as a comprehensive platform for the detection, localization, biopsy, and treatment of breast cancers.

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Five patients with abnormal pregnancies were examined with ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MR). Three had a malformed fetus, 1 had a molar pregnancy, and 1 had an ovarian mass. Both maternal and fetal structures were clearly shown, although fetal motion may have resulted in image degradation in some cases. The authors suggest that MR may be useful in obstetric diagnosis.

Thirty-seven patients with 69 suspected hemangiomas found by means of computed tomography (CT) and/or ultrasound were studied with both 0.5-T magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and single photon emission CT (SPECT) with technetium-99m-labeled red blood cells. Using a criterion of "perfusion-blood pool mismatch," SPECT readers diagnosed 50 of 64 hemangiomas and all five "nonhemangiomas" (sensitivity, 78% [95% confidence interval, 0.664 - 0.864]; accuracy, 80% [0.69 - 0.877]). Qualitative analysis of lesion signal intensity on T2-weighted spin-echo MR images allowed readers to diagnose 58 of 64 hemangiomas and four of five nonhemangiomas (sensitivity, 91% [0.814 - 0.96]; accuracy, 90% [0.807 - 0.951]). Because of the significantly higher cost of MR imaging and its inability to categorically differentiate hemangiomas from hypervascular metastases, the authors consider SPECT to be the method of choice for diagnosing hepatic hemangiomas. MR imaging should be reserved for the diagnosis of lesions smaller than 2.0 cm and for those 2.5 cm and smaller adjacent to the heart or major hepatic vessels; in such cases MR imaging was found superior to SPECT.