Combine approaches for better breast cancer diagnosis

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Better detection of breast cancer among women at high risk is offered by a combination of magnetic resonance imaging and mammography.
Women with mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have a high risk of breast cancer. Yearly mammograms allow for early diagnosis of any tumors. But these are often younger women with denser breast tissue which makes it hard to pick up any abnormalities.

A team at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, now reports on a study of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in screening for breast cancer. They offered a group of 650 high risk women either MRI or mammography for between two and seven years.

MRI turned out to be nearly twice as sensitive as mammography in detecting breast cancer. It identified 77 per cent of tumors, compared to 40 per cent for mammography. However, a combination of MRI and mammography proved even better, picking up 94 per cent of tumors. MRI was particularly good at detecting tumors among women with a BRCA1 mutation, picking up 92 per cent, compared to only 23 per cent for mammography. Further study is now needed to see if MRI can actually lead to decreased mortality among women at high risk of breast cancer.

Source
The Lancet online 16th May 2005