Diagnostic performance of standard breast MR imaging compared to dedicated axillary MR imaging in the evaluation of axillary lymph node

Background Breast magnetic resonance (MR) imaging does not usually assess axillary lymph nodes -using dedicated axillary sequence. The additional utility of dedicated axillary sequence is poorly understood. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of dedicated axillary imaging sequence for evaluation of axillary lymph node. Methods In this retrospective study from January 2018 to March 2018, 750 consecutive women underwent breast MR imaging. 263 patients were excluded, due to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (n = 235), incomplete histopathological information (n = 14) and follow-up loss (n = 14), 487 women were included. Two radiologists scored lymph node on confidence level scale from 0 (definitely benign) to 4 (definitely malignant), -using standard MR and dedicated axillary imaging sequences. Diagnostic performance parameters were compared and calculated correlation coefficient of quantitative features (largest dimension, cortical thickness, and the ratio of cortical thickness to largest dimension of lymph node). Results 68 (14.0%) were node-positive and 419 (86.0%) were node-negative. The sensitivity, specificity, positive, negative predictive values and accuracy were respectively, 66.2, 93.3, 61.6, 94.4, and 89.5% for dedicated axillary sequence and 64.7, 94.0, 63.8, 94.3, 89.9% for standard MR sequence The dedicated axillary and standard sequences s did not exhibit significant differences in detection of positive lymph nodes (AUC, 0.794 for standard and 0.798 for dedicated axillary sequence, P = 0.825). The cortical thickness appeared to be the most discriminative quantitative measurement using both axillary (AUC, 0.846) and standard sequences (AUC, 0.823), with high correlation coefficient (0.947). Conclusion Evaluation of axillary nodal status using standard breast MR imaging is comparable to dedicated axillary MR imaging.