Who had an MRI prior to surgery for DCIS and how helpful was it?

Rosamond - I did not have DCIS, however I can add this. I had regular mammograms and an ultrasound. They followed this with an MRI. The MRI found a lump that was not visible on any of the other imaging. (I had two lumps - one found by ultrasound/mammograms and the one found with MRI). Glad I went ahead with both.

Yes, I had an MRI prior to surgery at the directive of my conservative BS, who also sent me for genetic testing. My annual routine mammo. picked up the micro-calcs and the stereo.biopsy confirmed grade 2 dcis. BS wouldn't support my having a lumpectomy (rather than mx) unless all came back fine from the mri and genetic testing. I am grateful for the favorable test results.

I will confess that the mri did lead to a false positive, oddly enough on the GOOD side, so I did have an mri-guided biopsy. Knew that was a risk. Despite that, I am glad I had the mri (and genetic testing)! It is a very good idea to get as much information as you can before dcis surgery because the BS cannot see it and is relying on these images. Mammo, ultrasound, and MRI don't always all pick up bc, but together they are more useful than just one. 

edited to add the following: Just saw previous poster's Aetna comment: I also have Aetna insurance, they were not a problem at all paying for the mri or BRCA testing. But my BS ordered everything and he was the chair of the BC center so maybe that's why everything went through easily? Surgery at top ranked hospital in CT btw.

I had an MRI (timed to my cycle) after a diagnosis of DCIS only from a biopsy. The MRI showed 3 areas of probable malignancy - the area of DCIS, a palpable lump that hadn't yet been biopsied but was thought to be a cyst, and another spot not seen on mammography. All three ended up being IDC. It didn't show another 4 tumors that were found after surgery, but they were all pretty small - less than a cm.

It definitely changed my surgery decision. I had planned on a lumpectomy, but with the three tumors showing up on the MRI, mastectomy was recommended by 3 different surgeons. Good thing, too.

I too had DCIS and had an MRI.  I was warned of false positives etc.  I had mine times with my cycle as well and it did not show any other areas of concern or false positives.  I had a BMX and the path report showed the same as the MRI.  I also had dense breasts and was very large chested.  They had found cancer on my right side but had been going for mammos every 6 months for 4 years for a site they were watching in my left side.  I recommend the MRI- just keep in mind it might have false negatives and stay positive.  It will give you a better idea of what you are dealing with prior to surgery. 

Hi Rosamond, I had an MRI done after my first surgery, which was an extensive excisional biopsy which found DCIS, high grade (3) with central necrosis, multifocal and to all surgical margins.  The MRI was not particularly helpful for the DCIS breast, showing only nonspecific inflammation, but it did trigger an area of concern in the other breast.  This was rated a BIRADS4.  I subsequently went to an NCI-designated hospital (ranked #2 in nation currently--now that we are giving rankings here).  They reviewed the MRI and then actually had me repeat it.  After repeating it, they downgraded to a BIRADS3, and then repeated it in 6 months, and downgraded to a BIRADS 2 (benign).  Had I stayed with the first hospital, I would have had to have a biopsy, and now it's just history.  As I said, the MRI wasn't helpful for the DCIS, but they don't just do it to look at extent of DCIS, they are also looking for potential IDC.  It does make sense to do it.  I'd like to use it for follow-up screening, but this hospital won't be doing that.  I'll be having annual mammos and sonos (although now on a 6 month follow-up post biopsy of contralateral-non treated breast).

Dear Rosamond,

I was diagnosed in Jan of 2012 with DCIS, grade 2/3 with comedonecrosis via a 9 gauge stereo core biopsy.  Due to wanting to find whether there was more disease, the radiologist and my surgeon had recommended doing an MRI even though they are known to show false positive readings for things like inflammation due to fibrocystic disease (which I have had since I was young).  The resuts were very worrisome as they showed enhancement in a large area of the breast - from the nipple almost to the chest wall centrally.  The radiologist strongly suggested this was more cancer and that I should consider mastectomy.  I was floored!  My surgeon, a fantastic doctor as well as a caring person, suggested we do the MRI biopsy of the area anyway before proceeding with any surgery.

Turns out that when they did the core biopsy during another MRI, they only found inflammation not DCIS or any invasive disease.  I then had a lumpectomy to remove the approx 2.75 cm of DCIS originally identified in the mammogram that led to the first biopsy.  If it was not for my surgeon and her pushing me to get another biopsy I would have ended up having more significant surgery. 

Please be aware that in some cases women benefit a great deal from having an MRI as it can show true extent of disease in some women and can help someone make decisions.  In others, it appears that it picks up inflammation that looks like more cancer.  Please be careful. Ask a lot of questions before you proceed with any decisions.  In my case, the MRI picked up every little thing and it appeared to be more cancer but was not.  

You do need to know that you may end up with one or more core biopsies as you proceed if the MRI shows suspicious areas.  It may be worth it to do them as it was in my case because I avoided a mastectomy.  Of course, the biopsies are not fun at all.  It depends on your case.  Just find a really good surgeon who really is interested in their patient and knows about the limits of the various scans.  By the way, my scan was timed to a specific time in my cycle.

If you want to talk, you can PM me.  I can tell you more. 

Good luck,

Myna

I was diagnosed with DCIS grade 3 in my right breast, after a core needle biopsy. Scheduled for a lumpectomy with radiation to follow. My breast surgeon, conservative and one of the best in the area, ordered a bilateral MRI prior to surgery, even though the left breast had appeared to be clear after a digital mammogram. The MRI showed a suspicious area in the left breast. The surgeon performed an excisional biopsy on the left breast, at the same time as the lumpectomy on my right(DCIS) breast. The biopsy showed the left breast had a small area of IDC, stage 1, grade 1.  After that near miss, I chose to have a bilateral mastectomy. I am fortunate I had the pre surgical MRI. 3 years out and all is well.

I also had a false positive.  After being diagnosed via mammogram, my BS ordered an MRI, which showed suspicious activity in another quadrant of my breast.  After an MRI guided biopsy, which involved multiple pokes (ouch!) because they couldn't get the needle placed correctly, the results came back as benign.

As an added MRI-related problem, scans picked up my microcalcifications, but showed only a very small area of DCIS.  In the end, they found over 2 cm., which didn't show on scans.

I'm very happy to have had a mastectomy, as I could never trust that scans would fully pick up my disease.

Best of luck.

I am forever grateful I had an MRI before my surgery. The biopsy I had first confirmed DCIS but the MRI was the only thing that showed the actual size of my tumor which was over 7 cc's. Neither I or the BS felt a lump and the MRI showed in was in the form of a lesion contained in a milk duct. We tried a lumpectomy first but, after getting the pathology report, it showed both breasts peppered with non-invasive cancer cells. I chose to have a BMX and have never regretted my decision. The MRI was invaluable and I am very, very glad I did it. I hope this helps you. Good luck in any decision you will make.

I did have an MRI at the beginning of this little adventure way back in 2008.  This was Feb. after another doctor did a CT scan for something else.  The CT scant showed something suspicious so my doc ordered the MRI.  unfortunately she did not read it until July of that year where the report said possible malignancy (with the MRI).  The doctor did a biopsy of the wrong area, which of course came back as great news.  With next years check up i went to another doctor not trusting the original doctor.  After the routine mamogram i realized i was the only one sitting in the waiting room after sitting for hours.  I was called back my the new radiologist who showed my the mamogram and said i need to be biopsied right away and have another MRI done.  All pointed to breast cancer.  Took two years to get that far.  The MRI was pretty good as it did show 3 problem areas. when the original MRI was compared to the new MRI only on area showed up on the original MRI. 

Aslo, if DCIS does not spread, why did I go from one area of DCIS on the original MRI to 3 areas of DCIS on the second MRI and mamogram?

I supposedly do not have an invasion of cancer.

signed sick of  this and no longer seeing an oncologist for followups since they really do nothing.

I had MRI of both breasts because mammo and u/s saw a spot (that turned out to be a fibrocystic area).  However, MRI lit up other regions that turned out to be DCIS, none of which look unusual in the mammo and u/s images.  I had to have four biopsies guided by MRI and two of them were grade 3.  Post BMX pathology found microinvasive DCIS beneath one nipple that wasn't seen in any of the imaging. I just find that kind of scary.

I was being followed with mammogram and MRI for the past 8 1/2 years. If I remember correctly, I had my mammogram in December and MRI this past June. Unfortunately, they found DCIS in the opposite breast. I was devastated. Had SNB which was negative...thank goodness. I am scheduled to have bilateral mastectomies with immediate reconstruction on August 1st.

I felt like I did everything right, and this happened again. My BS says this is a "good" cancer to have. I told her, no cancer is "good". But it is a new primary and I am thankful it is not a recurrence.

So for me, in the span of 6 months, the MRI picked it up and I am thankful. It was found very early and the prognosis looks good. Even still, I wish I didn't have it

I had an MRI before surgery for my DCIS.  It showed "something" so they scheduled me for an MRI biopsy.  Much more DCIS was found...too much for a lumpectomy, so I did have to have a mastectomy.  My doctor requested that they do the MRI on both breasts and luckily the other one showed nothing at all. 

Shorfi - did you have another mammogram after your MRI in June? If so did it show anything abnormal? So sorry you have to go through this again!

I had an MRI after a diagnosis of DCIS; I have dense tissue. I was warned and given a handout about false positives.  The MRI picked up something suspicious in my other breast, and I had an MRI biopsy - that turned out to be benign.  The MRI biopsy was not fun physically or emotionally, but I don't regret it. I felt as though I had as much information as I could to make treatment decisions, and my doctors had the best information they could going into surgery. 

Good luck with your decision.