title: The postconservation breast: part 2, Imaging findings of tumor recurrence and other long-term sequelae.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objectives of this article are to highlight the imaging findings of tumor recurrence and other long-term potential sequelae after breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy, including increased risk of infection and radiation-induced malignancies. The role of MRI as a problem-solving tool in evaluating the conservatively treated breast will also be discussed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Imaging the treated breast presents challenges because of its limited compressibility and overlapping features of benign posttreatment alterations and tumor recurrence. After lumpectomy and radiation therapy, mammographic findings such as breast edema, skin thickening, fluid collections, architectural distortion, and calcifications have characteristic sequences of evolution toward stability. Changes in the imaging appearance after stability has been achieved--including increasing asymmetry, an enlarging mass, increasing edema or skin thickening, and the development of pleomorphic calcifications within or near the operative bed--should alert the radiologist to possible tumor recurrence. When mammography or sonography is indeterminate, MRI may be useful in excluding recurrence or providing a means for biopsy of a suspicious finding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Thanissara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chansakul
authors.forename: Kenny C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Priscilla J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Slanetz
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008327:Mammography; D015412:Mastectomy, Segmental; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000175:diagnosis; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis