MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) useful as back-up to mammography:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Magnetic resonance imaging can detect small breast cancers missed by mammography in patients who are diagnosed with cancer of the lymph node, US researchers have said. Patients with lymph node cancers are often referred for mastectomy, but in a small number of these patients there is no detectable breast cancer by mammography. In one-third of subsequent "blind" mastectomies, no cancer is found. MRI after mammography may help prevent unnecessary mastectomies, said the researchers, from the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia, in the August issue of Radiology.