MRI for High Risk Breast Cancer
The current issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians describes the value of mammography and MRI screening for women at particularly high risk for breast cancer. The updated screening guidelines are based on findings from clinical trials published after 2003.
MRI has a high rate of false positives compared to mammography. However, the downsides are balanced in the group of women at highest risk for breast cancer. The cohort of patients for whom such screening is appropriate include:
- Those with a BRCA1 or 2 mutation,
- Those with a first degree relative with the above mutation,
- Lifetime risk of breast cancer at 20 to 25 percent greater on standard risk assessment tools,
- Women who have had chest radiation between ages ten and 30, and
- Women with Li-Fraumeni, Cowden, or Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndromes or have a first degree relative with one of those.
Related stories:
- Improving Work in the Emergency Room
- Philips to Get Stronger in MRI with Intermagnetics Acquisition
March 28, 2007 Related topics: Imaging, Diagnostic, Hematology & Oncology