"This study gives us a clearer indication that if an MRI of the opposite breast is negative, women diagnosed with cancer in only one breast can more confidently opt against having a double, or bilateral, mastectomy," said NCI Director John E. Niederhuber, M.D.

Researchers are hopeful that with breast MRI's strong ability to predict the absence of a tumor, they can avoid some unnecessary mastectomies and provide women with more reassurance that the breast is disease free. Researchers are optimistic that there may be long-term savings to patients, and to the health care system, due to MRI's ability to detect cancer in both breasts prior to therapy - which may result in fewer rounds of chemotherapy and breast surgeries.


In the United States, breast cancer is the most frequent newly diagnosed non-skin cancer in women, and the second leading cause of cancer-related death. An estimated 178,480 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and an estimated 40,460 women will die of the disease in the U.S. in 2007.

For a Q&A on MRIs for contralateral breast cancer, please go to http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/MRIContralateralQ&A.

The protocol for this study can be found at http://www.cancer.gov/search/ViewClinicalTrials.aspx?cdrid=285698&version=HealthProfessional&protocolsearchid=3127490.

ACRIN is an NCI-sponsored and funded clinical trials cooperative group made up of investigators from over 100 academic and community-based facilities in the United States, as well as several abroad. ACRIN's mission is to develop information through clinical trials of diagnostic imaging and image-guided therapeutic procedures that will result in the earlier diagnosis of cancer, allay the concerns of those who do not have cancer, and increase the length and improve the quality of life for cancer patients. ACRIN administration is headquartered at the Philadelphia office of the American College of Radiology and is under the leadership of Network Chair Bruce J. Hillman, MD, and Constantine Gatsonis, Ph.D. the Network Statistician. The ACRIN Biostatistics Center is located at Brown University in Providence, RI.

The American College of Radiology (ACR) is a national professional organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists, with programs focusing on the practice of radiology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services. Further information on the ACR can be found at www.acr.org.

For more information about cancer, visit http://www.cancer.gov, or call NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4 CANCER.


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