MRI screening

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Anonymous
Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
edited June 2014 in High Risk for Breast Cancer
MRI screening
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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited September 2010

    My spouse is having her first MRI scan,recommended by her radiologist

    she has had a lumpectomy 6 months ago and due to a close margin and dense breat tissue she is advised to have the MRI.

    Can anyone recommend a good place to have a MRI performed ,and is all the equipment the same. What are the important things to consider with MRI scans?

    I have read you need experienced specialized radiologists to read the scans or you risk false positives.

    Thank you.

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  • LISAMG
    LISAMG Member Posts: 639
    edited September 2010

    Seek a high volume breast imaging center and NOT a radiology facility that performs other tests as well. You want radiologists that interpret breast scans all day long. Ask whether the MRI has CAD capability, or computer aided detection. Not all MRI machines have this added software, an important tool. Many NCI Cancer Centers are using the 3T breast MRI, this features added magnet strength that can detect tumors as small as 4mm!!! I had the 3T MRI done in Manhattan @ NYUCC, an excellent NCI facility.  Are you located near any major cancer center or medical center?? False positives are common with the MRI, but for any high risk woman its also the BEST defense for prevention and/or recurrence.

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  • eileen1955
    eileen1955 Member Posts: 365
    edited September 2010

    do you live near NJ? ST Barnabas has the new 3.0T Breast MRI machine from Phillips; compared to the 1.5T at other facilities.    I sound like a physicist; but all I know is that 3.0 is twice as sensitive as 1.5.        I was told this is the newest one in the nation when I had MRI of breast in May 2010.

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  • lean2010
    lean2010 Member Posts: 1
    edited September 2010

    Breast MRI's are one the best and efficient ways to detect or find Breast Cancer.  I had a mammagram in February of the year when I was diagnosed and it said I was find nothing to worry about, just repeat next.  Only because I was still having pain I was able to get my doctor to send me for a Breast MRI where my cancer was detected two months later.  The mammagram totally missed my cancer.  I will only have Breast MRI's now.  I do not trust mammagram. I hate to think what could have happened to me if I had trusted the mammagram.

    Lean2010

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  • leaf
    leaf Member Posts: 8,188
    edited September 2010

    I agree with LISAMG, from the little I understand.

    Here's a blurb from Science daily about 3T  breast MRIs.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090505162448.htm

    T stands for Tesla, a measure of magnetic energy. Tesla was a  brilliant but strange scientist in the late 1800s who was into magnetism and electricity.  It is a measure of the strength of the magnetic field of MRIs.   Here is a brief description of how MRIs work http://people.ee.duke.edu/~jshorey/MRIHomepage/work.html

    The biggest and most important component in an MRI system is the magnet. The magnet in an MRI system is rated using a unit of measure known as a Tesla. Another unit of measure commonly used with magnets is the gauss (1 Tesla = 10,000 gauss). The magnets in use today in MRI are in the 0.5-Tesla to 3.0-Tesla range, or 5,000 to 30,000 gauss. Extremely powerful magnets -- up to 60 Tesla -- are used in research. Compared with the Earth's 0.5-gauss magnetic field, you can see how incredibly powerful these magnets are.  http://science.howstuffworks.com/question698.htm

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  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 17,186
    edited September 2010

    If you were in Chicago I would recommend Rush University Medical Center/Rush Breast Imaging Center. Read about them here: http://www.rush.edu/rumc/page-1193858479505.html

    There are many excellent places to go (and not so good places too). Where are you located?

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  • avaross09
    avaross09 Member Posts: 8
    edited October 2010
    I would recommend Riverview Medical Center for their highly advanced technology and support groups for cancer treatment in New Jersey. They are operational with not just the right set of experts - radiologist, oncologists, surgeons and staff, but also with the latest machines and technology, used for breast cancer - digital mammography, high resolution ultrasound, mammotome breast biopsy and much more. Although, a tumor can get detected through an MRI in dense breast tissues, there is a failure to detect breast cancer in its early stages. The Riverview Medical Center has the DynaCad system, which involves diagnostic through a computer-assisted capability, enabling the radiologist to present the most accurate reading possible. It uses magnetic resonance imaging to differentiate between benign and malignant lesions. You may want to check it out. All the best.
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  • Fearless_One
    Fearless_One Member Posts: 3,300
    edited October 2010
    All I can suggest is have the results read by a breast imaging specialist.   While all radiologists are qualified to read MRI's, I am more comfortable having a BIS read mine since mostly they just read breast images.   Most "women's centers" will have them (as opposed to just going to the hospital or any outpatient center).
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