Abstract
We report three cases of local postoperative breast cancer recurrence found in diffusion–weighted MRI (DWI). Case 1: A 42–year–old woman undergoing breast–conserving surgery for right–breast cancer 3 years and 4 months earlier was shown in DWI to have a high round signal area in the remaining breast. This was diagnosed as ipsilateral recurrence due to mastectomy. Case 2: An 88–year–old woman undergoing left mastectomy for breast cancer 8 years and 6 months earlier was shown in DWI to have a mass shadow in the left chest wall exhibiting a high signal. This was diagnosed as regional lymph node metastasis due to resection. Case 3: A 69–year–old woman undergoing left mastectomy with sentinel lymph node biopsy 10 months earlier was shown in DWI to have a mass shadow in the left chest wall exhibiting a high signal. This was diagnosed as lymph node metastasis due to lymph node dissection. These three women, whose recurrence was found thanks to DWI MRI, remain well without recurrence as of this writing, demonstrating the usefulness of DWI MRI in detecting local recurrence early.
