SUBAREOLAR BREAST ABSCESS: ADVANCED MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING FINDINGS

Breast abscesses are generally seen in women in lactation period and located in the retroareolar and periareolar areas. Occasionally, subareolar abscesses may occur in young and middle aged women in non-lactation. Advanced imaging techniques may be needed to discriminate inflammatory breast carcinomas from subareolar abscesses with high risk of recurrence. We detected multipl breast abscesses in 26 year-old woman in non-lactation period and presented the findings of dynamic magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy in addition to the findings of ultrasonography and conventional magnetic resonance imaging. Although the diagnosis of breast lesions depends basically on clinical findings, mammography and sonography findings, the usefulness of advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques has been reported increasingly in differential diagnosis. This imaging techniques provide additional information to mammography and ultrasonography by bringing about non-invasive approaches.