New Guidelines on Use of Breast MRI

New guidelines for the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for diagnosing breast cancer and making treatment decisions have been published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (2009;7:193-201).

The key recommendations state that MRI should not be used as a substitute for screening or diagnostic mammography or diagnostic breast ultrasound, but rather as a supplement to those imaging techniques; that surgical decisions should not be based solely on MRI findings, and that suspicious lesions should be biopsied before a surgery plan is devised; that MRI can find the location of cancer in the breast in the rare cases that cancer is found in the lymph nodes but not in the breast; and that MRI provides enhanced detection in both breasts in women with diagnosed breast cancer.

source: Oncology Nursing News