MR can rule out cancer with 100 percent certainty when it’s performed as a follow-up procedure after a suspicious lesion is found during breast cancer screening, according to a new study conducted by Medical University of Vienna.

The researchers assessed over 2,300 patients from 14 international studies. Previous analyses of MR found that it only offers a maximum of 90 percent certainty, but this new analysis used more specific evaluation criteria.

"If the MRI scan does not reveal a tumour, any further risk can be virtually excluded. The affected women can then sleep peacefully once again – their fears are allayed," the researchers explained in a statement.
The study also found that only about 11 percent of scans produced a false-positive result. That’s a much lower percentage than the industry previously thought and it’s the same or even better than mammography, tomosynthesis and ultrasound.

The researchers concluded that “MR is the best method of excluding the possibility of breast cancer and the only one that offers absolute certainty.”

MR screening is provided for free around the world for patients who are at high risk such as those who have a family history of breast cancer. But in Austria, patients who aren’t high-risk are offered MR breast scans if the results from the mammogram or ultrasound is ambiguous.

In the U.S., MR breast scans are offered very reluctantly and it can cost the patient around $3,000 per scan. In England and Germany it’s a similar situation because there’s a lack of clear information available.

But for low-risk patients, mammography and ultrasound exams are still the "go-to" modalities — it’s only when the results are ambiguous that MR is offered free of charge. The researchers are hoping that the findings of the study will make it possible for all women over 40 to have free access to MR breast exams.

MRI Homepage