Anyone getting yearly breast MRI with mammograms?
 

Hi just wondering if others with a bc history are getting MRI with their routine mammograms? If so, is this what you MD recommended? Any comments appreciated, thanks.

PS From what I remember from the research last spring, breast MRI is recommended for NEWLY DIAGNOSED and that there was no research that determined it would beneficial to OLDER DIAGNOSED bc survivors.

Not aMRI, but I do get an ultra sound and mammo every six months. Jeanette

I get a mammo every six months and mammo with us once a year and this year I am going to have an MRI. My last MRI was in 2006.

Karen

I get a mammogram once a year and a breast MRI once a year. They are scheduled 6 months apart, so that every May I get the mammogram and every November I get the MRI. This way, my breasts are getting checked one way or another every six months.

I just had an MRI 2 weeks ago...
 

and my mammogram was 8/07. The recommendation is Mammo every year and MRI every year (opposite the mammo, so like Colleen, I will get one or the other every 6 months).

Rhonda

I don't get Mammo's because I have had Bi-lat mastectomy, BUT I do get Ultra Sounds every year.

I have a mamogram once a year and MRI once a year. Yes, my dr. has
ordered this. This Nov. I am changing from MRI to the new Breast
GSI...see hopeful's post.

Good Luck,
Fran

I am getting the breast MRI 6 months apart from the digital mammo/breat u/s. I insisted on this (and the onc. agreed) as the mammo and ultrasound missed my tumour(s) - the plastic surgeon who did my breast reduction found one tumour, and the breast MRI I had before mastectomy found the second one.

Dense breasted women should demand a breast MRI, all kinds of studies have come out recently to support this.

all the best
caya

I'm getting biannual MRI's, but that's because I have lobular, which is hard to see on mammo, and because I am young with dense breasts.

Thanks for reponses and more questions....
 

Does anyone know the risks, particularly of the Gad ilium contrast dye from the MRI to the kidneys and other body parts?

Ditto Colleens treatment. If you still have dense breasts, mammo won't find it. Looking for polar bear in a snowstorm.Mammos didn't find my whopper of a tumor months before I found it.. Bev

I had a MRI in August as a direct result of reading threads on this website. I told my Oncologist I wanted to schedule one, and he said they are just now learning more about the benefits of the MRI vs. a mammo. He agreed. Moving forward, I have a mammo in spring, and a MRI in fall.

I have sat next to women in the Fusion Center that simply don't want to know if anything may be progressing until it happen. Then there are those of us on this website, who make it their business to know so we can continue to live healthy lifestyles.

Louise

Dense breast tissue but no MRI (ever) or any other scan in my 3-1/2 years since DX except for MUGA. Only a yearly digital mammo now. I wouldn't wish lack of testing on anyone!! Originally, I did find a lump but mammo results said normal. Since I had cysts over the years, that's what I thought it was and waited over 6 mos to get it drained. But suprise--this time it was BC. I think I'm NED but who knows? For me it would be better to be one of the women who don't want to know if something is progressing, rather than wanting to know and being denied testing. I'm grateful I had Herceptin for 1 year although it was a fight to get it.

It's great to read that the majority of women are able to receive the testing they want and need. That's the way it should be.

For those with the BRCA gene and still have their breasts, an MRI alternating with a mammogram is recommended. So that would be every 6 months you would do one or the other.

Jean,
What is Breast GSI?

I believe this is what Jean is talking about:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/84399.php

Maryanne

RobinP,

I have dense breast tissue and had it not been for a breast MRI, I would likely be Stage IV (I was Dx'd w/ Stage I). I live in a rural area and the closest breast MRI machine is about 150 miles away. I got the MRI AFTER my first lumpectomy where one tumor was removed (clear margins)... of course, no one was more surprised than my surg onc when the MRI came back with two more tumors (larger than the one that had previoulsly been removed !). The tumor that was removed with the first lumpectomy, was not visible on mammo and barely visible on U.S. The other two were caught with the MRI and consequently, I had another lumpectomy.
Although the mammos AND Ultrasounds do not work for me because of my dense breasts, my surg onc recommended I get all three modalities because micro-calcifications are not "picked-up" by MRI (whereas they are picked-up by mammo.)
So, I get a mammo, U.S., and breast MRI every year !

Maria

Saw my Oncologist yesterday, and we discussed MRI's. Interestingly enough, he is recommending a MRI on both the left and the right when I am due for my next MRI. I had a right mastectomy; however, he said the cancer cells can attach to the chest wall even though I had a mastectomy.

One more herceptin treatment remaining....

Louise

Louise, given the way the machine is set up, you may as well do a two-fer. It takes the same amount of time. BB