MRIs gain favor as breast cancer detection tool

? A major medical group is for the first time recommending that women at greatest risk of breast cancer undergo MRI exams every year to try to catch more tumors at their earliest, most treatable stages.

The American Cancer Society is issuing new guidelines today that urge annual MRIs for women at high risk because of a strong family history of the disease, a genetic predisposition or other reasons. As many as 1.6 million U.S. women fall into this category.

For these women, the recommendation adds the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) exam to the standard tools doctors should use to try to discover breast cancer, marking the most significant change in the Cancer Society’s screening guidelines since doctors started recommending annual mammograms. The more sensitive MRI exams can pick up small tumors that frequently are missed by mammograms.

The guidelines stop short of recommending annual MRI screening for all women, saying there is insufficient evidence to support wider use of the relatively costly exams.