Five Takeaways from New Breast MRI Literature Review
In a new literature review, researchers noted key findings on the use of breast MRI in facilitating breast cancer detection for women with dense breasts and others at high-risk for breast cancer.
Research continues to support the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in breast cancer screening for women deemed to be at high-risk for breast cancer, including those with dense breasts.
Here are five key takeaways from a new literature review, which was recently published in Insights into Imaging.
1. In 15 studies published between 2000 and 2015 looking at imaging modalities for women with a hereditary predisposition to breast cancer, researchers found that contrast-enhanced breast MRI had a sensitivity rate ranging between 71 to 100 percent. In comparison, the sensitivity rate ranged between 48 to 67 percent for the combination of mammography and ultrasound, between 33 and 52 percent for ultrasound, and between 25 to 58 percent for mammography.
2. In a 2019 study examining a decade of MRI surveillance for over 4,500 women at high risk of breast cancer (including 954 BRCA1 carriers and 598 BRCA2 carriers), researchers found that 185 invasive carcinomas and 36 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) were detected within 12 months of annual screening.
Researchers found that abbreviated breast MRI had a 57 percent higher sensitivity rate for breast cancer (96 percent) than digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) (39 percent) in a study of 1,444 women with heterogeneously dense or extremely dense breasts. (Image courtesy of Radiology.)
3. Researchers found that abbreviated breast MRI had a 57 percent higher sensitivity rate for breast cancer (96 percent) than digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) (39 percent) in a study of 1,444 women with heterogeneously dense or extremely dense breasts. The study authors also noted that DBT had a 10 percent higher specificity than abbreviated breast MRI (97 percent vs. 87 percent) and a 17 percent higher positive predictive value (PPV) (36 percent vs. 19 percent).
4. In a randomized controlled trial involving 1,355 women at high-risk for breast cancer, researchers found that the median invasive cancer detected with MRI was 9 mm in comparison to a median tumor size of 17 mm diagnosed with mammography.
5. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated superior results in breast cancer detection (1.52 per 1,000 screenings) in comparison to DBT, handheld ultrasound and automated breast ultrasound in a 2023 meta-analysis involving 132,166 women with dense breasts and negative findings on mammography exams.
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