Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have reported that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is superior to digital mammography or ultrasound for the detection of breast cancer in high-risk women. The details of this study appeared in an early online publication in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on November 2, 2009.[1]
Magnetic resonance imaging uses radio waves and a magnet to create detailed images of the inside of the body. The American Cancer Society now recommends that women at high risk of breast cancer undergo yearly breast cancer screening with breast MRI in addition to mammography. These recommendations were prompted by several studies of MRI screening in women at high risk of breast cancer. While these studies found that the addition of MRI to mammography increased the frequency of false-positive test results compared with mammography alone, MRI also produced important improvements in breast cancer detection. These studies were performed using 1 and 1.5 T systems. Researchers from the University of Toledo have reported that the newest MRI machine known as the 3-T MRI (3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging) may be superior to previous MRI machines known as 1 and 1.5 T systems.
The current study included 609 women at high risk for developing breast cancer. All underwent screening with conventional mammography, digital mammography, MRI, and whole-breast ultrasound. Twenty cancers were diagnosed in 18 women. Eleven were invasive cancers, and nine were ductal carcinomas in situ. The following results were achieved for each technique:
- Film mammography detected six cancers.
- Digital mammography detected seven cancers.
- Whole breast ultrasound detected three cancers.
- MRI detected 12 cancers.
One cancer was detected only by film mammography, three were detected only by digital mammography, one was detected only by whole-breast ultrasound, and eight were detected only by MRI.
Comments: These data confirm that, of the four methods used, MRI detected more cancers; this outcome confirms other studies.
Reference:
[1] Weinstein SP, Localio AR, Conant EF, et al. Multimodality screening of high-risk women : A prospective cohort study. Journal of Clinical Oncology [early online publication]. November 2, 2009.
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