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3T MRI bests mammography, sonography in detecting breast cancer
 May 20, 2009 -- NEW YORK (Reuters Health), May 20 - MRI at 3 tesla is significantly better than mammography or sonography for the detection of breast cancer, and can even detect lesions as small as 4 mm, according to a study by U.S. and Egyptian researchers. The 3-tesla, or "high-field strength," MRI also has greater sensitivity than previous 1-tesla and 1.5-tesla MRI systems.
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The authors note, however, that this increased sensitivity comes with the tradeoff of somewhat decreased specificity. The study is reported in the April issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.
In a statement that accompanied the report's release, lead researcher Dr. Haitham Elsamaloty, of the University of Toledo College of Medicine, Ohio, noted that the MRI findings "led to a significant change in patient management in 18.2% of the cases in our study.... High field strength (3T) MRI systems are becoming increasingly available in the clinical setting and more of them are being used for the evaluation of breast malignancy."
The study participants were 434 women (mean age, 53 years) who were considered to be at high risk for breast cancer, because of a personal or family history of the disease or because of a positive test result for the BRCA gene. The study took place from May 2006 to October 2007 at a single center. All participants underwent imaging with 3-tesla MRI, mammography, and sonography.
Of the 868 breasts imaged, 66 (7.6%) were shown on pathologic examination to contain malignant tumors. Of these 66 tumors, 54 were identified by mammography and 57 were identified by sonography. Only 3-tesla MRI identified all 66 malignant tumors.
Sensitivities were 100%, 81.8%, and 86.4% for 3-tesla MRI, mammography, and sonography, respectively, with corresponding specificities of 93.9%, 99%, and 98.1%. The specificity of 3-tesla MRI improved over the course of the study, from 92.8% in 2006 to 94.5% in 2007, based on increasing experience by the radiologist conducting the MRI.
By Scott Baltic
AJR 2009;192:1142-1148.
Last Updated: 2009-05-19 17:58:45 -0400 (Reuters Health)
Study: Breast MRI helps find unsuspected cancers, April 23, 2009
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