Tammy H Kreuzer MD

Breast cancer?

Good evening, Often a staging MRI is performed after a new diagnosis of breast cancer. This is done to look at both breasts and see if there are any abnormal findings that could be other cancers in the breast with the known cancer and/or the other breast. This is also a good way to check the full extent of the known cancer. A small percentage of patients will have an additional cancer that is occult (not visible) on your mammogram. If there is an abnormal finding on a breast MRI, aside from the known cancer, radiologist may want to do special mammogram views and/or ultrasound to see if they can find the area and biopsy it. This is commonly referred to as a “second look” mammogram or ultrasound after an MRI. A percentage of these abnormal MRI findings are “false alarms” or false positives (not cancer). You are correct- MRI with intravenous contrast/die is the most sensitive breast study (will detect the most cancers); but after an abnormal MRI, it is very common for “second look” mammograms and especially ultrasound to be recommended by the radiologist. If the abnormal area cannot be detected on the secondary mammogram or ultrasound, an MRI guided biopsy may be recommended, depending on the level of suspicion/concern. There may be a finding on your recent MRI that the radiologist want to assess further and possibly obtain a biopsy of. This is not uncommon and does not mean you have an additional cancer. In the case of a screening breast MRI for patients who have a high lifetime risk for developing breast cancer, it is still recommended that these women also continue to get annual screening mammograms, as there are some findings that may only be detected on a mammogram. Also, mammograms are still the only test that has been shown to decrease mortality related to breast cancer. I hope that answers your question. READ MORE