The relationship of obesity, mammographic breast density, and magnetic resonance imaging in patients with breast cancer.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose was to evaluate the relationship between body mass index (BMI), mammographic breast density, magnetic resonance (MR) background parenchymal enhancement (BPE), and MR fibroglandular tissue (FGT) in women with breast cancer. METHODS: Our institutional database was queried for patients with preoperative mammography and breast MR imaging. RESULTS: There were 573 women eligible for analysis. Elevated BMI was associated with advanced stage of disease (P=.01), lower mammographic density (P<.0001), lower FGT (P<.0001), higher BPE (P=.005), and nonpalpable lesions (P=.04). CONCLUSIONS: Higher BMI was associated with decreased breast density and FGT. Higher BMI was also associated with advanced stage disease and nonpalpable tumors on clinical exam.