More Women Getting MRIs To Screen For Breast Cancer

BOSTON -- Mammograms are still widely considered to be the gold standard for finding breast tumors, but in the past decade more and more women have started getting MRIs as well, as an advanced screening method.

NewsCenter 5's Kelley Tuthill reported Tuesday that there is no doubt images from an MRI are clearer than most mammograms, and because of that, they have the potential to find more cancers.

"MRI pictures are taken over 1-millimeter slices, so we are kind of slicing through the breasts at 1-millimeter intervals, so you can really get fine detail," said Dr. Elsie Levin, a radiologist who interprets hundreds of MRIs each month at Faulkner Hospital.

With MRI, "Your breasts are not being compressed so the images of your breast are really true, 3-dimensional images," said Dr. Valerie Fein-Zachary, a radiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Women get an injection of contrast fluid, then lie faced down in the MRI unit for the series of scans. The contrast material shows blood flow.

"We think that cancers tend to have a lot of blood flow and abnormal blood vessels," said Levin. "So they take up the contrast agent and we can see it on the MRI."

In March the American Cancer Society recommended that women at high risk of getting breast cancer get MRIs in addition to mammograms.

Levin said, "There are some things that show up on MRI that we can't see any other way."

Women considered to be at high risk of breast cancer include those who with a previous diagnosis, women who test positive for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation, or women who have a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer.

Most people will spend about 20 to 25 minutes inside the MRI machine. Tuthill said, "It doesn't hurt, but I can speak from personal experience, and tell you, you do have to stay still and it's awfully loud in there."

MRIs are not for everyone.

"If you're at average risk, no," said Levin. "The one downside of MRI is that because it is so exquisitely sensitive, a lot of normal or benign things will show up that may prompt other testing."

MRIs also cost 10 times as much as mammograms, up to $1,500. Insurance doesn't always pay, and because MRI images can be difficult to interpret, experts said it's critical that you go to an office and professional that is accredited by the American College of Radiology.