Increase of mastectomy rates after preoperative MRI in women with breast cancer is not influenced by patients age

Abstract Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is increasingly used for staging women with breast cancer, including screening for occult ipsilateral or contralateral cancer. If breast-conserving surgery is planned, a MRI examination should be performed in all ages women with suspected breast cancer, especially those exhibiting dense or heterogeneously dense breast parenchyma, for which the sensitivity of both ultrasonography and mammography is low. MRI staging causes more extensive breast surgery in a significative proportion of women by identifying additional cancer. If the ability to find additional occult cancer is the true value of MRI, this is not influenced by patients' ages. For this reason, preoperative MRI should be counseled to all women with breast cancer by clinicians, independently from the age, as the age alone does not preclude additional findings.