Complain about a product or service

MRI Screening of Opposite Breast Necessary for Women with Breast Cancer

March 28, 2007

Breast Cancer • Recommended Changes to Breast Cancer Screenings Cause Controversy • Optical Biopsy Provides Surgery-Free Diagnosis • Breast Cancer Lawsuit Alleged Needless Suffering, Death • New Chemo Cocktail Blocks Breast Cancer 'Like A Fence' • Physically Fit Women Less Likely To Die Of Breast Cancer • No Link Found Between Caffeine and Breast Cancer Risk • Older Women at Greater Risk of Breast Cancer • Companies Agree To Cut Cancer-Causing Chemicals In Potato Chips • What Women -- and Men -- Should Know about Breast Cancer • Daily Aspirin May Reduce Risk of Breast Cancer • FDA Approves New Genetic Test for Breast Cancer • Gene Mutation Spreads Breast Cancer • Research Finds Green Tea Helpful Against Breast Cancer • Marijuana Compound May Fight Breast Cancer • Mayo Clinic Sees New Hope In Breast Cancer Drug • FDA Approves Evista For Reducing Breast Cancer Risk • Side Effects Drive Women from Breast Cancer Drug • Hypnosis Reduces Pain and Costs in Breast Cancer Surgery • Grapefruit Linked to Breast Cancer • Study Finds No Link Between Abortion, Miscarriage and Breast Cancer • Falling Breast Cancer Rates Linked to Declining Use of Hormone Replacement Therapy • Hispanic Women Three Times More Likely to Develop Advanced Breast Cancer • MRI Screening of Opposite Breast Necessary for Women with Breast Cancer • FDA Approves Tykerb for Advanced Breast Cancer Patients • FDA Clears New Breast Cancer Test • Needle Biopsy May Not Be Enough to Rule Out Breast Cancer in Some Cases • Red Meat May Increase Breast Cancer Risk • Breast Cancer Survivors Skipping Mammograms, Study Finds • Breast Implant Complications Frequent, Study Finds • Tests Show Drug Fights Aggressive Breast Cancer • California Sues to Require Cancer Warnings on Potato Chips and French Fries • Study Ties Fries To Breast Cancer Risk • Low-Fat Diet May Reduce Risk of Recurrent Breast Cancer • Study Suggests Pain Reliever, Breast Cancer Link • Trials Show Herceptin Aids Breast Cancer Recovery • That Pink Ribbon Can Be Misleading, Consumer Group Warns • Survival Better When Breast Cancer Detected Through Mammography

Women with a recent diagnosis of cancer in one breast should have MRI screening of the opposite breast, concludes a multi-center study involving University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers.

The international research team found that MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, detected cancer in the opposite breast in 30 of 969 women (3.1 percent) who had recently been diagnosed with cancer in one breast only. The cancers in the opposite breast were missed by previous mammography and clinical exam.

The authors recommend MRI screening for women at high risk for breast cancer -- those who already have the disease, have been recently diagnosed or have a family history of breast cancer. The results appear in the March 29, 2007, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

"This study is pretty definitive evidence that the opposite breast needs to be evaluated with MRI," said study co-author Dr. Etta Pisano, a principal investigator and Kenan professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at the UNC School of Medicine. "But no one is recommending that we give up mammography. MRI screening is a very expensive tool that should be used judiciously for high-risk populations. The last thing we would want is for every woman to think she should get an MRI," Pisano said.

In addition, MRI does not detect calcifications, one of the earliest signs of breast cancer. Mammography is the only way to detect calcifications.

The study was conducted by the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) at 25 test sites in the U.S. and Canada. The National Cancer Institute funded the research.

Despite negative clinical breast exams and mammography of the opposite breast, up to ten percent of women are later diagnosed with cancer in the opposite breast after having begun treatment for breast cancer, the study said. This means patients must undergo two rounds of cancer therapy (surgery and possibly radiation and/or chemotherapy) rather than one, as would be the case if cancer in the other breast were found at the time of initial diagnosis.

Sixty percent of the cancers uncovered by MRI were invasive, with potential to spread beyond the breast. Such breast tumors "are the most important ones to find," Pisano said. The average tumor size was nearly 11 millimeters.

Pisano, director of the UNC Biomedical Research Imaging Center and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the percentage of cancers found in the opposite breast was huge. "If you were to screen the opposite breast with mammography in the general population, you would expect to find four to seven cancers per 1,000 patients. This study found three per 100, nearly ten times higher."

Smaller, less rigorous studies at a single center had suggested that MRI would detect otherwise hidden cancers in roughly 5 percent of women with a recent breast cancer diagnosis. But the percentages of additional cancers ranged widely, as did the ability of these studies to correctly identify the absence of cancer. Nor did these studies include a one-year follow-up to determine the breast cancer status of the women in whom MRI did not detect disease.

The ACRIN authors note that the additional cancers detected in their study was not influenced by the patient’s breast density, menopausal status or primary tumor history.

"The reason why dense breasts are a problem is that tissue lies between the tumor and the detector. The beam has to go though a lot of normal tissue, which can hide the tumor. But if you take slices, as MRI does, you get images in focus every few millimeters and the tumor can’t hide," Pisano said.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.