Determination of recall rates for assessment in high-risk women undergoing annual surveillance breast MRI.

AIM: To review all surveillance breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations performed over a 6-year period at an Irish national centre to determine the recall rate, biopsy rate, and cancer-detection rates.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: All breast MRI examinations performed for surveillance purposes in women at high risk of developing breast cancer between January 2009 and December 2014 were reviewed. The Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) score for each MRI examination was determined, the type of additional imaging performed, and the method of biopsy, if performed, was recorded. Histology of the biopsy specimens was reviewed.

RESULTS: Data for 715 women undergoing 1445 surveillance MRI examinations were identified. Of the examinations, 10.9% (157/1445) had MRI BI-RADS scores that required recall for further imaging and 6.3% (91/1445) required a biopsy. Recall rates were 14.2% (86/607) and 8.5% (71/838) in the prevalent and incident rounds, respectively. The overall cancer detection rate was 17 per 1000.

CONCLUSION: The current UK guideline was not achieved and no studies to date have achieved the target of <7%. Aiming for this target could risk lowering the cancer-detection rate. The authors would suggest a target rate of <15% and <10% for the prevalent round and incident rounds, respectively.