Future applications and innovations of clinical breast magnetic resonance imaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the breast has become a valuable diagnostic tool for detecting and evaluating breast abnormalities. Breast MRI is rapidly advancing, and several innovations have strong implications for improved detection, diagnostic accuracy, and treatment monitoring. This article describes select areas of recent technical development that are likely to have an increasing clinical impact on MRI of the breast, including high-field imaging, parallel imaging, high-sensitivity breast coils, diffusion-weighted imaging, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy.