Screening women at increased risk with MRI: Monday 3 October 2005, 08:45–10:45

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women. In the screening of women for breast cancer, mammography is the most used imaging modality. Women with an increased risk for getting breast cancer can develop a malignancy at a relatively young age compared to other women. The increased risk for developing breast cancer can usually be found in a positive familial history. This positive familial history is based on a gene mutation in 5–10% of cases. The most common gene mutations are BRCA(1) and BRCA(2). This risk makes it necessary to start screening these women at a young age. Mammography, however, has proven to be less reliable in younger women because its sensitivity is lowered due to the dense breast tissue often present in this group. MRI has a higher sensitivity for detecting breast cancer compared to mammography. MRI is not influenced by the density of the breast tissue. This makes breast MRI the best modality available for the screening of women with an increased risk for developing breast cancer.