HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - MRIs show breast cancer in the OTHER breast of 3% of newlydiagnosed brst ca patients

Lani · 03-27-2007, 11:25 PM

from the Wall St. Journal:
MRIs Aid in Spotting
Some Breast Cancer
By ROBERT TOMSHO
March 28, 2007
Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, can spot otherwise overlooked cancer in the second breast of women who have already been diagnosed with single-breast cancer, according to a new study.

The findings add to a growing body of research suggesting that MRIs can be a powerful tool for breast-cancer screening and help patients get earlier and more precise treatments for all the sites where cancer might be located.

They also come as MRIs -- which can cost as much as $2,000, or roughly 10 times the amount of a typical mammogram -- have become one of the fastest growing costs in health care, prompting insurers to reduce reimbursement for them and try to limit their use.

The study, which appears in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, followed 969 women receiving breast-cancer treatment at 25 different facilities around the country. All had received a normal mammogram for their second breast before undergoing MRIs, which detected cancer in the other breast of about 3% of the participants.

"We are identifying cancers that would otherwise not be receiving any treatment," said Constance Lehman, a professor of radiology at the University of Washington and the study's lead author.

Breast cancer strikes about 200,000 women a year and kills about 40,000. As much as 10% of women who are diagnosed with cancer in one breast are expected to eventually develop it in the other over the next ten years. With traditional mammography, those additional breast cancers are detected slowly, at a rate of about 1% a year.

The 3% detection rate found in the study indicates that broader use of MRIs "would mean earlier detection and that translates into much longer-term survival," said Phil Evans, director of the Center for Breast Care at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas. Dr. Evans was not involved with the study.

Its release coincides with the American Cancer Society's announcement of new MRI screening recommendations for women at high risk for developing breast cancer. The guidelines were outlined in an accompanying editorial in the New England Journal. Citing recent research in the field, they call for women to receive annual MRIs if they know they have certain related gene mutations or have a 20% to 25% higher lifetime risk of breast cancer because of factors such as a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer.

Robert A. Smith, the editorial's author and the society's director of cancer screening, estimated that as many as 2% of all women over the age of 30 would fall under the parameters of the new recommendations.

He and other researchers cautioned, however, that the quality of breast MRIs varies widely around the country. In his editorial, Mr. Smith noted that many facilities that offer MRIs don't perform image-guided biopsies, a fact that results in some patients having to repeat the MRI procedure.

03-27-2007, 11:25 PM	#1
Lani Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 4,778	MRIs show breast cancer in the OTHER breast of 3% of newlydiagnosed brst ca patients from the Wall St. Journal: MRIs Aid in Spotting Some Breast Cancer By ROBERT TOMSHO March 28, 2007 Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, can spot otherwise overlooked cancer in the second breast of women who have already been diagnosed with single-breast cancer, according to a new study. The findings add to a growing body of research suggesting that MRIs can be a powerful tool for breast-cancer screening and help patients get earlier and more precise treatments for all the sites where cancer might be located. They also come as MRIs -- which can cost as much as $2,000, or roughly 10 times the amount of a typical mammogram -- have become one of the fastest growing costs in health care, prompting insurers to reduce reimbursement for them and try to limit their use. The study, which appears in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, followed 969 women receiving breast-cancer treatment at 25 different facilities around the country. All had received a normal mammogram for their second breast before undergoing MRIs, which detected cancer in the other breast of about 3% of the participants. "We are identifying cancers that would otherwise not be receiving any treatment," said Constance Lehman, a professor of radiology at the University of Washington and the study's lead author. Breast cancer strikes about 200,000 women a year and kills about 40,000. As much as 10% of women who are diagnosed with cancer in one breast are expected to eventually develop it in the other over the next ten years. With traditional mammography, those additional breast cancers are detected slowly, at a rate of about 1% a year. The 3% detection rate found in the study indicates that broader use of MRIs "would mean earlier detection and that translates into much longer-term survival," said Phil Evans, director of the Center for Breast Care at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas. Dr. Evans was not involved with the study. Its release coincides with the American Cancer Society's announcement of new MRI screening recommendations for women at high risk for developing breast cancer. The guidelines were outlined in an accompanying editorial in the New England Journal. Citing recent research in the field, they call for women to receive annual MRIs if they know they have certain related gene mutations or have a 20% to 25% higher lifetime risk of breast cancer because of factors such as a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer. Robert A. Smith, the editorial's author and the society's director of cancer screening, estimated that as many as 2% of all women over the age of 30 would fall under the parameters of the new recommendations. He and other researchers cautioned, however, that the quality of breast MRIs varies widely around the country. In his editorial, Mr. Smith noted that many facilities that offer MRIs don't perform image-guided biopsies, a fact that results in some patients having to repeat the MRI procedure.