Medscape: MRI Ups BC Diagnosis in Women With Dense Breasts

SummerAngel

This isn't really an IDC topic, but I didn't know where to put it. I read this article the other day: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/921903#vp_1 (need to login but it's free).

Some of the study details:

"Among women who received MRI, 454 (9.5%) women had abnormal scans and were called back for further testing. A total of 300 of these women (6.3%) went on to breast biopsy. Of these, 79 actually had breast cancer: 64 (81%) of these were invasive tumors, and 15 (19%) were ductal carcinoma in situ (a form of early cancer with low risk of becoming invasive). Most of these cancers were early stage 0 or I (n = 72), node negative (n = 70), moderately to well differentiated (n = 55), and hormone receptor-positive (n = 56)."

They conclude:

"It is unclear how many of the cancers detected in our trial were life-threatening and what fraction, if any, represents overdiagnosis," the authors write.

"The findings of this trial are likely to reinforce the idea that MRI screening is important in women with dense breast tissue," he continued, but the study cannot answer the question of whether the tumors that were detected "needed to be found or treated."

This article implies that even though 64 invasive tumors were found with the MRI testing, because most had less-aggressive characteristics they may not have needed to be treated at all. This makes me curious, because the tumor in my (extremely dense) right breast wasn't seen on a mammogram, only MRI. It was low risk. If I hadn't had the MRI I would still likely have my right breast (I wasn't going to get a BMX). What is the likelihood that the right tumor would have just stayed put or resolved itself? It's odd that this study concludes that these tumors may not have needed finding/treating at all.