Cancer Research Lab

Some breast cancers that are not detected using mammography or ultrasound, can be seen when magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is employed, according to findings from a study of women with genetic or familial risk.

The interim results of the HIBCRIT (High Breast Cancer Risk Italian Trial) are reported by Dr. Francesco Sardanelli of the University of Milan and associates in the March issue of Radiology.

These findings demonstrate that “the addition of MR imaging to the screening regimen for high-risk women may enable detection of otherwise unsuspected breast cancers,” Dr. Sardanelli said.

Dr. Sardanelli’s group examined the results for 278 women who underwent breast cancer screening by clinical breast examination, mammography, ultrasonography and contrast material enhanced MR imaging.

The women were BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers, first-degree relatives of BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers, or had a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer.

Breast cancer was found in 11 of the 278 women in the first round of screening by all procedures and in 7 of 99 women in the second screening round. In 6 of these 18 patients (33%), cancer was detected only by MR imaging.

There was a “negative clinical breast examination, mammography and ultrasound,” continued Dr. Sardanelli. “This confirms the role of MR imaging in the surveillance of high-risk women.”

“On the other hand,” he pointed out, “it’s important to note that these results cannot be translated to average-risk women. In other words,” he concluded, “breast MR imaging can be considered as a screening tool only for high-risk women.”