This study quoted in CBC News Canada gets to the crux of the problem with Breast MRI.
MRI and Breast Cancer
1. They have a high rate of false positives
2. We don't know if we are just picking up smaller disease that was always there and treated with radiation therapy.
3. It is feasible that having an MRI and recommending a mastectomy if a tumour is thought to be multifocal may not increase survival compared to treatment by cosnervative surgery and radiation therapy.
At the BCI, our pilot MRI study for women 50 years and under continues. Our target is 50 patients and we have NINE patients to recruit to complete the study.
Dr Nehmat Houssami, a research consultant at the BCI will be publishing a meta-analysis about MRI as part of an international collaboration
This is the breast cancer site of Prof John Boyages, author of Breast Cancer: Taking Control
