General Medicine

» P_Al - Role of MRI in Breast Cancer

A recent study has found that MRI evaluation of the contralateral breast during the diagnostic work up of breast cancer may identify about 3% more tumors compared to clinical breast examination and mammography. You can read my article on this study at the following link - http://cancer.suite101.com/article.cfm/r...
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Has anyone had this done as part of their evaluation? What where the results and in what ways did this change your management if any?

-- posted by P_Al

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» tinuviel - Role of MRI in Breast Cancer

In response to Role of MRI in Breast Cancer posted by P_Al:

You might be a bit disappointed because I can't really answer your question since I've never had breast cancer.

But I imagine this discovery must be exciting for those patients who have been considering bilateral mastectomies after being diagnosed in just one breast. The fact that MRI's have such high predictive quality must mean that many women can make more educated decisions about how to treat their cancers. And that's really good news.

Did I read the article correctly that the MRI also rules out 99 percent of all the persons who didn't have traces of cancer in the other breast? If this is so, this sounds like one of the most conclusive forms of cancer detection/treatment (or anything) I've heard of.

I have a question that I'm not sure will make sense, but here goes. About the 3% more detections that MRI's can accomplish: Does this mean 3% more than it could detect before, or 3% of the 10% that previously went undetected? The former situation would seem more favorable, and if that really is what is meant, then (in light of the statistics quoted in the previous paragraph) do you think that the 3% might cover almost all of the cases that usually went undetected? That would spell very good news.

I hope you understand what I'm asking.

-- posted by tinuviel

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» P_Al - Role of MRI in Breast Cancer

In response to Role of MRI in Breast Cancer posted by tinuviel:

The 3% increase means that the MRI evaluation picked up 3% more of the cases compared to when clinical breast examination and mammography are used. This implies that it is superior to the latter methods.

There are pitfalls e.g. cost. I know that there are new guidelines that have been developed as to when an MRI is warranted. For example I believe that those women at high risk would be included. This issue may be the subject of a future article.

-- posted by P_Al

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» tinuviel - Role of MRI in Breast Cancer

In response to Role of MRI in Breast Cancer posted by P_Al:

I rethought my former question and I guess it was a bit silly. But I have a real one this time. What is the essential difference between a mammogram and an MRI? Aren't both dedicated to viewing things within the body that aren't visible from the outside? And in conjunction with that, why is the MRI much more expensive than the mammogram?

-- posted by tinuviel

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» P_Al - MRI vs Mammogram

In response to Role of MRI in Breast Cancer posted by tinuviel:

A mammogram is really an x-ray of the breast. This uses 'fairly' simply technology - passing x-rays through tissue to produce an image on a film. This is similar to taking a photograph.
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On the other hand, an MRI requires the use of radio waves, a powerful and very expensive magnet and a computer. The radiowaves, applied by the machine, interact with atoms in the tissue. These release excess energy that is again picked up by the machine and sent to the computer for analysis. This is a much more complicated system.

-- posted by P_Al

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