PEM Scan vs. MRI

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basher
basher Member Posts: 1
edited June 2014 in High Risk for Breast Cancer

I'm 41 yrs old, premenopausal, mother is a 2x BC survivor.  I have had 5 biopsies since 2001.  Very dense breasts.  Lumpectomy last year found atypical ductile hyperplasia (ADH) in L breast, but no cancer.  I recently had a PEM scan as part of a grant study, and it came back with a suspicious area in R breast.  My surgeon who did lumpectomy in 2008 says she "doesn't like" PEM scans and is now recommending an MRI.  I have read that the MRI false positive rate is higher than the PEM scan false positive rate (31% for MRI vs. 18% for PEM).  I know PEM is very new, but I am interested in hearing from high-risk women who've had PEM, then were referred for MRI.  Does the MRI ever show that an area that was suspicious on PEM is actually nothing to worry about?  Seems like with a higher false positive rate, that would not be the case.

Also if there are high-risk women who've had PEM with suspicious findings, I'm interested in hearing what your "next steps" were...

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  • henny
    henny Member Posts: 89
    edited April 2009

    Basher,

    PEM is a PET scan that uses a small "camera head" to detect where there is more metabolic activity. It can pinpoint exactly where in the breast there is stuff going on.

    The MRI shows where there is increased blood supply-It can change depending on the time of the month for pre-menopausal women.

    MRI has more false positives than PEM

    Like all imaging there is a limit to what can be seen. Very small or not really active tumors may not show up clearly.

    I had a PEM 2 years ago and my surgeon didn't know anything about how to use the results so I had an MRI too. They both showed the main 1.2 cm tumor but both missed a DCIS that was found after my mastectomies.

    My opinion is that more imaging is better (a controversial topic in itself) but many docs don't know how to incorporate new technology into their thinking. My surgeon's new mantra is "image twice and cut once" and has said PEM has changed her surgical plan for a few patients

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