Breast Cancer MRI May Alter Treatment Plan

Breast magnetic resonance imaging provides diagnostic information for some 20 percent of women with breast cancer, U.S. researchers said.

University of Florida surgeons said that MRI, which is not routinely administered to the breast cancer patients, can find additional cancerous areas in the breast that previously evaded detection, discover cancer in the opposite breast that standard imaging tests such as mammography and ultrasound missed, or determine a tumor is actually larger than expected.

Dr. Stephen R. Grobmyer said that MRI can help confirm which women are candidates for a breast-sparing operation or more aggressive surgery.

The surgeons did a retrospective review of 79 women ages 29 to 82, who had localized noninvasive or early-stage invasive breast cancer and were planning to have a lumpectomy. Twenty one patients underwent an MRI-guided biopsy after preoperative breast MRI revealed a suspicious area. About 40 percent of the biopsies revealed additional cancer and the MRI led to a change in treatment plan in 19 percent of the study sample.

The findings were presented at the Southern Surgical Association’s 119th annual meeting in Hot Springs, Va.