mammo, MRI, both or??

Anyone come up with any conclusions over which way to go in a "dense breast tissue" situation? my limited research suggests an mRI is better than mammo but that maybe a mammo is still best for calcifications? Maybe one needs both? There is also a molecular breast imaging study being consucted at mayo Rochester.
My mom's primary BC was missed by mammo, found by CT. Calcifications that proved cancerous were found by mammo.

I Have Extremly Dense Breast. During My Mammo They Found The Ductal Carcinoma, But Only When They Did An Ultra Sound Did They Find The Lobular Carcinoma Inches Away From The Ductal. The Tissue Is Just Too Dense And "hides" The Lobular Kind. The Mri Is The Suggested Method And The Only Method Suggested To Dx This Kind. So Many Woman With Dense Breast May Have This Lurking And Not Know It. Reguardless I Would Not Trust A Mammo For Dense Breasts. Hope This Input Helps.

[karenann]

I am going to have a bilateral mri in two weeks. My breasts are very dense and last year when I was diagnosed, the mammo did not pick up the lump (that I could feel), so they gave me an ultrasound. However, neither the mammo or the us picked up the DCIS (huge amount) they found during my lumpectomy.

[kristen8594]

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know that if you can get both....then have both. My cancer did not show up on my mamo (even though you could see and feel the lump). Because of my very dense breast tissue my doctor orders an MRI along with a yearly mamo. The mamo can't see through the dense tissue but it DOES pick up any calcifications, where I think the MRI does not. So if you can have both...then it is a very good idea!
Thanks
Kristen

[mts]

I too have dense breasts... Fortunately, in 2004 I joined a "multi-modality trial" at U. of Penn where mammo, US and breast MRI were used for comparison. The MRI picked-up the cancer and the Mammo and US did not. If not for the MRI, I would still have tumors in my breast that my rad onc said were too big for radiation to kill. These tumors would have been my so called "recurrances".
Two lumpectomies and rads later, I still get MRI's just to be sure. The radialogy guys at UPenn stated that it is a good idea to do all three modalities -even if the mammo and US don't show anything because of the calcification issue...
On the other hand, the MRI does pick-up every little tissue that appears not normal and false positives are common. Next thing you know, you're having biopsies and chewing your nails down to the knuckle... in the end, its part of living with this stinkin' disease.

From what the radiologist told me from UPenn, the breast MRI caught 30% more cancer than the mammo and ultrasound combined. I was one of those 30%.

Often times the doc's won't suggest a breast MR because they are so expensive and insurance may not pay.

[jjfromcanada]

I have all three. The mammo and ultrasound are done together and the MRI is done 6 months later. My lump was missed when I only had mammos and I have dense breast tissue. Like everyone else in this thread.