فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background: With a rapid increase in the aging population around the world, there has been a surge in the number of elderly breast cancer patients. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonly used in preoperative assessments for elderly patients. However, there has been no consensus on the accuracy of tumor size measurements by MRI. Objectives: To compare the accuracy of MRI versus conventional imaging methods, namely, mammography (MG) and ultrasound (US), in tumor size measurements in elderly patients and to determine the predictors of measurement accuracy. Results: Tumor size differences ≤ 0.5 cm, T-stage agreement, and diagnostic performance for T stages ≥ 2 were higher in the elderly group compared to the younger group on MRI. The T-stage agreement with the histopathological results was higher on MRI compared to conventional imaging methods. For diagnosis of T stages ≥ 2, MRI showed the highest sensitivity, while US showed the highest specificity. The calcification type, dense breasts, and histological grade 3 were predictors of tumor size differences > 0.5 cm. Conclusion: The accuracy of tumor size measurements on MRI was higher in elderly patients aged ≥ 60 years. The diagnostic accuracy further increased in elderly patients with non-dense breasts and mass-type lesions. In T-stage analysis, MRI showed the highest sensitivity, while US showed the highest specificity.