Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Of The Breast: What To Think About

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What To Think About

• Abnormal findings on a breast MRI often are not cancer. If the MRI has an abnormal result, your doctor will do other testing to find out if the problem is serious. This may involve doing an ultrasound test or a biopsy, or both.
• Sometimes your MRI test results may be different because you were tested at a different medical center or earlier test results are not available to compare to the new test findings.
• An MRI may be more likely to report a problem in the breast when a problem is not there (false-positive) than other tests. A false-positive result may lead to more tests when no serious problem is present. For more information, see the medical test Breast Cancer (BRCA) Gene Test.
• While MRI is a safe and valuable test for looking at your breast, it is much more costly than other methods, and it may not be available in your area.
• Open MRI machines are now made so that the magnet does not completely surround you. Open MRI is useful for people who are claustrophobic or obese. But these machines are not available everywhere. Also, these machines may not be able to do all the studies needed to check for problems. Open MRI can be used to guide treatments (interventional treatments) or procedures, such as a biopsy.
• Contrast material that contains gadolinium may cause a serious problem (called nephrogenic systemic fibrosis) in people with kidney failure. Tell your doctor if you have serious kidney disease before having an MRI scan.

Last updated:	April 03, 2008
Author:	Bets Davis, MFA
Reviewed By:	Martin Gabica, MD - Family Medicine, Paul D. Traughber, MD - Radiology
Editors:	Maria Essig, Tracy Landauer