Yearly MRIs, in concert with breast exams and mammograms, apparently can mean the difference between life and death for women with a high risk of breast cancer, according to a new study.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/health/16cancer.html?_r=2&ref=health
The New York Times reported this week on the findings, which could spare women with a high risk of breast cancer from taking the drastic step of having a mastectomy to circumvent the deadly disease.
For years doctors have suggested that women at a high risk for breast cancer get both a yearly mammogram and an MRI, which is better at detecting tumors than the mammogram, according to The Times. But there had been no scientific evidence that the combination of both tests could actually save lives.
The new study is the first to track the survival of high-risk women who get MRIs. The research determined that following six years of follow-up, 93 percent of mutation carriers were still living, versus 73 percent still alive at five years in other studies, The Times reported.
And all the women at a high risk due to their family history were alive after six years, according to the latest study.
That research was published online in The Journal of Clinical Oncology, and was led by Dr. Jan G.M. Klijn, an emeritus professor at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. The study tracked 2,157 high-risk participants in the Netherlands.
Please click here to download the plugin required to make recent comments work!