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Abstract Breast cancer is the most common female malignancy, counting for 32 % of all female cancers. The incidence is increasing and a woman now has a 1in 8 chance of developing breast cancer in her lifetime. Although, conventional imaging modalities as mammography and ultrasound remain the method of choice for routine screening programs and as the 1st imaging aid, but MR imaging of the breast is useful in many clinical situations, including problem solving in women with questionable findings on other breast imaging studies, preoperative evaluation of extent of disease in women with synchronous breast carcinoma, evaluation of chest wall invasion, assessment of residual disease after a lumpectomy and evaluation of response to radio or chemotherapy. MRI is important in evaluation of tumor recurrence and it can demonstrate additional foci of cancer that are unsuspected by the clinical evaluation or mammography. Demonstrating more extensive cancer means that a number of women will be treated using mastectomy instead of lumpectomy and radiation and this will decrease this high recurrence rate. |