Solid tubular carcinoma of the breast: MR imaging and pathologic correlation

PURPOSE: Solid tubular carcinoma of the breast is a recognizable histologic type of invasive ductal carcinoma, characterized by rare axillary lymph nodal metastases and a good prognosis. The purpose of this study is to describe the magnetic resonance (MR) characteristics of solid tubular carcinoma and to emphasize the spotty appearance on the MR subtraction images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the MR findings of seven patients with biopsy-proven solid tubular carcinoma. Two of the 7 cases were of the pure type (more than 85% solid tubular component) and the remaining 5 were of the mixed type (50% to 85% solid tubular component). The mean age of the patients was 56 years. RESULTS: The mean size of the lesions was 28 mm. On T1-weighted images four of the lesions were visible and three were not identified. After Gd-DTPA all the lesions were enhanced. On the subtraction images, g" popcorn" appearence areas were noted in the stained mass. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary results suggest that solid tubular carcinomas have a characteristic apperarence on the subtraction MR images.