MRI's may help those at high risk of breast cancer

For women with a high risk of breast cancer because of genetic mutations or family history, yearly M.R.I. scans in addition to mammograms and breast exams may save lives, a new study finds.

The study, the first to measure survival in a large number of high-risk women receiving M.R.I.’s, found that after six years of follow-up, 93 percent of mutation carriers with cancer were still alive, compared with 74 percent alive at five years in earlier studies. In the new study, all of the women at high risk because of family history were still alive after six years. 

“Carefully screened with M.R.I., clinical breast examination and mammography, even women at high risk for the development of breast cancer may make a rational decision not to have prophylactic mastectomy as a risk-reducing intervention,” said Dr. Andrew D. Seidman, a breast cancer specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering who was not involved in the study. 

Breast M.R.I. is not recommended for most women, who have only an average risk of breast cancer, because the scans find too many possible abnormalities and lead to repeat scans and biopsies for things that turn out to be harmless. Even in this study of high-risk women, about 10 percent of the suspicious M.R.I. findings turned out to be false positives.