Breast MRI improves the positive predictive value (PPV) of BI-RADS category 4B (moderate suspicion of malignancy) for mammographic microcalcifications, according to a study published online May 28 in Clinical Radiology.
Researchers from Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, conducted a study that included 108 women with BI-RADS category 4B microcalcifications without masses on mammography who underwent breast MRI between January 2009 and December 2015. The team reviewed mammography and MRI findings and analyzed imaging features according to the BI-RADS 5th edition.
With breast MRI, the PPV of category 4B microcalcifications increased from 0.38 to 0.82, and MRI reduced benign biopsy results by 88%, the researchers found.
"If amorphous microcalcification with regional or grouped distribution on mammography shows no enhancement on MRI, follow-up could be considered rather than immediate biopsy," the group concluded. "In addition, breast MRI might have the potential to guide the best site to biopsy in category 4B microcalcification."













![A normal mammogram confirmed by three-year radiologic follow-up illustrates reader-marked regions of interest (ROIs) during (A) unaided (round 1) and (B) artificial intelligence (AI)–assisted (round 2) reading. Each colored dot represents an ROI for recall by a human reader. Readers could mark more than one ROI per case, represented by multiple dots of the same color. During AI-assisted reading, the AI system displayed three visible prompts: two with suspicion of malignancy scores of 35% (left mediolateral oblique [L MLO] and craniocaudal [L CC]) and one with a suspicion of malignancy score of 10% (right craniocaudal [R CC]), shown as polygonal overlays. Without AI, six of 10 readers (60%) marked a false-positive ROI. With AI assistance, this fell to two of 10 (20%). R MLO = right mediolateral oblique.](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/07/2026-07-14-radiology-mammogram-ai-auto-bias.H0bYO8QlWs.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&h=112&q=70&w=112)





