A new study says that in women with very dense breast cancer tissues, MRI between regular mammograms may be an effective process to find out if they have cancer. Women having dense breast tissue may have high risk of breast cancer. The tissue density creates difficulties with traditional mammography to detect cancer. The dense tissue seems white on the mammogram, and it’s difficult for the radiologist to recognize it while reading your scan. Fatty or non-dense tissue appears black and makes it easy to distinguish between cancer and healthy tissue.
One in ten women may have dense breast tissues. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in the US more than half of women with an age of 40 or over have dense breasts. Usually, it is genetic, but some of the other factors also affect tissue density. Women with very dense breasts tend to be more fit or have a lower body mass index (BMI). They are usually younger and maybe receiving hormone therapy to relieve menopausal symptoms. The study was issued on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study found that in patients with dense breast tissue and regular mammograms, the use of complementary MRI screening revealed significantly fewer breast cancer than women in the study. During the two-year screening period, only mammograms were used for evaluation. Interval cancers are cancers found within 12 months of screening for molybdenum targets. The findings are considered normal and are basically between regular screenings. The incidence of interstitial cancer in women in the MRI group was reduced by 55%. Of the patients undergoing a biopsy, 25% have breast cancer.
Although the study showed that MRI screening could reduce the incidence of breast cancer in this patient population, the editorial noted the “dilemma” is labeled. This suggests that, although additional testing may be beneficial, there is still a risk that additional screening may make women positive, which may put them at risk of procedures that do not ultimately increase their chances of survival.
