MRIs May Detect Breast Cancer

May 6 -- It's hard to imagine a woman more conscientious about breast cancer screening than Franci Blassberg, a 49-year-old lawyer in New York City.

Every three to four months she went to a breast specialist for manual exams. Every year she had both a mammogram and sonogram. But Blassberg has dense breast tissue, which makes screening especially difficult.

"I did everything I was told to do, and very conscientiously," Blassberg told ABCNEWS.

Then, last year, Blassberg felt a small lump in her breast. Doctors suggested she have both breasts screened yet again, this time using magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.

"It was a technique I simply was not familiar with," said Blassberg. "I never heard about it."

The MRI picked up what turned out to be several tiny tumors in Blassberg's breast. "I was very surprised when they found cancer," she said.

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Study: MRIs Can Detect Increased Blood Flow

Many researchers say it's becoming increasingly common. A study presented today to a meeting of radiologists in San Diego reviewed medical records of 367 women at high risk for breast cancer, including women with a family history of the disease, those who had been previously treated for breast cancer or who, like Blassberg, have unusually dense breast tissue.

The study, conducted by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, found that MRI detected cancers not seen on mammograms in one out of every 24 women. For those women who had both a personal and family history of breast cancer, the rate jumped to one in 12.

"It can pick up small cancers and invasive cancers at a higher sensitivity than mammography," said Dr. Elizabeth Morris, the lead author of the paper.

While mammograms use X-rays, MRI uses radio waves and magnetic fields, which make the contrast between breast tissues 10 to 100 times greater.

"Magnetic resonance imaging assesses blood flow in the breast," said Morris. "If there is cancer in the breast, there is increased blood flow and the formation of abnormal vessels."