MRI before surgery leads to better-adapted treatment for breast cancer

Berlin, Germany: The early use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in women diagnosed with breast cancer can often lead to a better adapted surgical approach to the tumour, a scientist told the 6th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-6) today (Wednesday April 16). Dr. David Martinez-Cecilia, a surgeon from the General Surgery Service, directed by Prof. Rufian-Peña, in the Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Cordoba, Spain, said that this technique should become standard in determining the stage of the tumour before any operation.

Dr. Martinez-Cecilia and his team studied 249 patients who were undergoing surgery for breast cancer, and carried out routine MRI as soon as a biopsy showed malignancy. If additional lesions were discovered, a further biopsy was carried out on them.

“Using MRI, we found 20 additional malignant lesions in 18 patients”, he said, “and that meant that for 15 patients we were able to change the surgical treatment to one which took care of all the tumours, as opposed to the single one that had originally been diagnosed.”

source: European CanCer Organization Press Release