Why High Breast Cancer Risk Women do not Prefer MRI Screening

by Megha Ramaviswanathan on March 20, 2018 at 12:41 PM

Breast MRI screening may be beneficial to women at high lifetime risk of breast cancer in addition to routine mammography, but a new study finds that even though breast MRI is widely available, it is greatly underutilized. The study involved more than 422,000 women and the findings of the study are published in Journal of Women's Health.

Christoph Lee, MD, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, and a team of researchers coauthored the study entitled "Underutilization of Supplemental MRI Screening among Patients at High Breast Cancer Risk." They reported that while nearly 44% of women at high (>20%) lifetime breast cancer risk had mammography performed at a facility with on-site breast MRI screening available, only 6.6% of the high-risk women underwent breast MRI screening.

Breast Cancer Screening using Mammogram

Breast cancer if detected early can be completely cured. Mammography is used to screen women for breast cancer.

‘The study reports that only 6.6% of high breast cancer risk women underwent MRI.’

Tweet it Now

"Breast MRI screening may benefit women with a high lifetime risk of breast cancer through earlier cancer detection," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health. "A greater understanding is needed of why this widely available resource is not being fully utilized to screen high-risk women."

Source: Eurekalert

Family History May Up Breast Cancer Risk in Older Women

Women are more likely to develop breast cancer as they age and who have a first-degree family history need to screen mammogram as they age, even after 74 years.

<< Understanding the Basis of ALS

Tiny Implantable Sensors to Track Developing Health Problems >>

Interesting Insights into Early Breast Cancer Development

Epigenetic changes are inherited as long as the cell divides, and the research affected the biology of a normal breast cell from a healthy individual.