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| MRI, Mammography, and Breast Cancer |
| The role of MRI in the diagnosis and treatment of breast disorders |
| Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is receiving considerable attention in the news media, medical community, and medical journals. Research published May 16, 2005 in the prestigious medical journal, "The Lancet," and summarized in other medical journals describes important new research about value of MRI and Mammography in breast screening. MRI technology has the advantages of more detailed diagnostic capabilities with no exposure to radiation and no need to apply pressure to the breast as required in conventional mammograms. Clearly, this is good news and there is an appropriate place for MRI in diseases of the breast. |
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| MRI is useful both for screening among certain women and in assisting your physician in planning treatments for breast disease including cancer. MRI is a superior diagnostic procedure for imaging the soft tissues of the body. This makes it extremely valuable for planning cancer treatments as well as evaluating other disorders of the breast. However, the initial detection of many types of early breast cancer depends on mammography. Mammograms can reveal the presence of small clusters of calcium in the breast tissue. This is an important distinction. By using low x-ray levels, mammography can reveal the tiny concentrations of calcium typical of early cancer cells in the breast. For now, mammography is less expensive than MRI and more sensitive to these very small calcium deposits. This is why the medical community continues to support mammography as the standard method for detecting cancer in women at baseline risk who are disease free. Since MRI is far better at revealing soft tissue details, it may be recommended by your doctor in the following situations: MRI is very sensitive for diagnosing multiple sites of disease that might not show on conventional mammography or ultrasound prior to definitive treatment once breast cancer has been detected. MRI is sometimes the best alternative for follow-up exams after treatment. In these follow-up studies, MRI can exclude tumor recurrence or residual disease in patients after surgery or radiation therapy. There is no known long term health effect that has ever been shown as a result of exposure to MRI examinations. MRI is recommended as an ancillary study in the screening of high risk patients who have a genetic predisposition for developing breast cancer. These women have tested positive for the BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 breast cancer gene. MRI is effective when evaluating axillary masses (cysts and other breast tissue disorders) with no known primary tumor. MRI is the best imaging tool to assess the integrity of breast implants. An implant evaluation study does not require contrast injection. The MRI Breast Examination Women familiar with mammograms will be interested in knowing more about the MRI imaging examination. A more comprehensive discussion of this examination is available here (web link) from Siemens Medical Systems, the manufacturer of our equipment. The examination is performed with the patient lying on her stomach. The breasts are positioned in comfortable "bra-like" cups lined with a special wire coil that can detect the radio waves emitted by the breast tissue as a result of exposure to the magnetic field. No pressure is applied to the breasts during the examination. One additional step is the injection of a contrast material called gadolinium. This assures the clearest possible imaging of the details of malignant tumors and other breast tissues. |
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XPhotos courtesy Siemens Medical Systems
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| The examination takes about 30 minutes to complete and there is no special preparation for the patient. It is best to schedule the study at mid-cycle if a woman is still menstruating or off hormone replacement if she is currently taking estrogen or other supplements. |
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As always, the decision for a referral to an MRI examination is a matter between you and your physician. |
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For more information sponsored by Siemens Medical Systems, the manufacturer of our MRI equiipment, click here, Click your back button to return to this page. |
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