MRI of mammary glands in women from the middle risk group, even with negative results of mammography, helps to identify 11 cases of cancer for every 1000 patients examined.
Such data led Dr. Simone Schrading at the Symposium on Breast Cancer in San Antonio.
"The incidence of additional cases of breast cancer is very high, even among pre-examined women.
In experienced hands, the positive results of MR screening in this cohort were comparable to screening with mammography, "said Dr. Schrading, an employee of the University of Aachen (Germany).
MRI is a well-established screening method for women with a high family risk of breast cancer, but so far no data have been available to support its use in middle-risk women.
Dr. Schrading conducted a prospective one-center study that examined the accuracy of MR screening in a group of 1725 women with a moderate risk of breast cancer. All participants had normal results of oncological examination and digital mammography. In addition, 89% of women underwent high-frequency ultrasonic breast screening, which did not detect cancer. None of the women had a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, and none had proliferative changes or atypia. The average age of participants was 55 years (from 42 to 71).
Screening with magnetic resonance imaging revealed breast cancer in 18 of these patients, that is, the incidence was 11 cases per 1000. In 7 cases, it was a case of in-situ carcinoma in situ (PCIS), in 11 others - of invasive breast cancer. The average size of the detected lesions was 11 millimeters. 5 of 7 in-situ carcinomas and 6 of 11 invasive tumors were low-grade, that is, the most dangerous. On the other hand, all cases of invasive cancer were detected at an early stage (N0, M0).
The distribution of patients with breast cancer detected on MRI was consistent with that in the general population. Density of tissue on mammography did not influence the probability of breast tumor identification by MRI.
Dr. Laura Esserman, during the symposium, asked the researcher the actual question of the correlation between the price and benefits of introducing MR screening for women from the middle risk group.
The total cost of screening for breast cancer in the United States today is at least $ 8 billion a year. Using MRI for screening in this group, according to Dr. Esserman, professor of surgery and radiology at the UCSF, it is possible to increase the frequency of detection of tumors.
"Yes, it's true - MR screening is still very expensive. The main reason for the high cost of MRI is a long study and reading of the results.
The long time of the study is due to the fact that the protocols currently available are for diagnostic purposes, and not for rapid screening. Our goal is to start using MP screening protocols, where the study time is only 3 minutes, and the reading time is less than 30 seconds. This will reduce the cost of MP screening, "said Dr. Schrading.
The study was conducted without the support of commercial sponsors. Dr. Schrading does not mention any financial interests.
medbe. en.
Keywords:.