MRI Tests May Detect Cancer Better

BOSTON — Women with a family history of breast cancer may be better off getting an MRI exam than a mammogram, the more common test to screen for the disease that strikes more than 200,000 U.S. women every year, a study showed.

A group of Dutch researchers found that MRI scans, which use magnetic and radio waves to produce pictures of the body from any angle, have an 80% success rate of detecting cancer, far higher than other tests.

“MRI appears to be more sensitive than mammography in detecting tumors in women with an inherited susceptibility to breast cancer,” said the team, led by Mieke Kriege of the Rotterdam Family Cancer Clinic.

The group reported its findings in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Breast exams found the cancer 18% of the time, while the mammograms worked in 33% of the cases.

However, MRI exams are also more likely to sound a false alarm and they are significantly more expensive than other tests.

The study, begun in 1999, surveyed 1,909 women in the Netherlands who had a greater-than-average risk of getting breast cancer.

All had annual mammograms and MRI exams, plus standard physical exams.

Of 40 cancers found, 55% were spotted by MRI alone, 20% were found by mammogram alone and 25% were identified by both.

But the MRI tests also showed suspicious results in 10% of the women who did not have cancer.