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From: rabinvestor
Sent: Saturday, June 2, 2007 10:22 PM
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Subject: [FONAR] MRI detects cancers missed by mammography in breast cancer
patients

  Public release date: 2-Jun-2007


Contact: Nancy Jensen
newsbureau@...
904-953-2299
Mayo Clinic

MRI detects cancers missed by mammography in breast cancer patients
CHICAGO -- A unique examination of one treatment center's use of
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in new breast cancer patients has
found MRI to be superior to mammography in finding additional tumors
in a breast in which cancer has already been diagnosed, and in
detecting new tumors in a patient's supposedly healthy breast.

Two studies conducted by oncologists from Mayo Clinic
(http://cancercenter.mayo.edu/) in Jacksonville, Fla., and presented
June 2, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical
Oncology (http://www.asco.org/portal/site/ASCO) (ASCO), also revealed
distinct patterns between MRI-detected ipsilateral tumors (cancer in
the affected breast) and contralateral tumors (cancer in the
unaffected breast) that could guide use of the screening technology,
researchers say.

"These results prove that MRI can detect tumors missed by traditional
exams, and can be vital in helping women choose the right course of
treatment for their breast cancer," says Mayo radiation oncologist
Laura Vallow, M.D. She and other radiation oncologists at the
Multidisciplinary Breast Clinic
(http://www.mayoclinic.org/breastcancerprogram-jax/) in Jacksonville
scan both breasts of all newly diagnosed breast cancer patients with
mammograms and MRI and so have been able to compare results from both
screening techniques in hundreds of women.

In their study comparing MRI and mammography in detection of
ipsilateral breast cancer -- the first such study of its kind in the
nation --the researchers found that MRI detected tumors missed by
mammography in 16 percent of 390 patients. Women with MRI-detected
ipsilateral tumors tended to be younger or they had a primary breast
tumor that was at least 1 centimeter in size. The primary tumors also
belonged to many different breast cancer subtypes, and newly
diagnosed tumors were different from the primary tumor in 29 percent
of patients.

"This is an important finding because breast cancer tends to be more
aggressive when diagnosed in younger women," says Dr. Vallow, the
study's lead investigator. "This suggests that younger women who want
breast-conserving surgery to treat newly diagnosed cancer may benefit
from an MRI scan of the entire breast."

The second study, which compared MRI versus mammography in detection
of contralateral breast cancer, found that MRI detected tumors missed
by mammograms in 3.2 percent of 401 women. Some women participated in
both studies, and in a few cases, MRI found tumors in both breasts
that were not found by mammography.

Patients with MRI-detected tumors were more likely to be
postmenopausal, and to have a common type of tumor, one classified as
estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, says the contralateral breast
study's lead investigator, oncology resident Johnny Bernard Jr.,
M.D., who works with Dr. Vallow. This result mirrors findings of a
969-patient study reported in April 2007 in the New England Journal
of Medicine (http://content.nejm.org/) (NEJM) which concluded that
MRI detected contralateral breast tumors in 3.1 percent of patients
that had been missed by mammography. Data on 65 Mayo patients were
part of the NEJM study.

Detecting contralateral breast cancer before a newly diagnosed
patient is treated is important, says Dr. Bernard. "Patients can have
treatment for both breast cancers simultaneously rather than the
physical and psychological trauma of having a contralateral cancer
detected years later," he says. "Furthermore, treatment
recommendations by the physician may be affected by the finding of a
contralateral cancer, as well as patient preferences for one
treatment versus another, such as for mastectomy versus breast-
conserving surgery.

"Patients with a diagnosis of breast cancer are considered high risk
and therefore we contend that these patients should have a screening
MRI to further evaluate the extent of ipsilateral disease and also to
evaluate the contralateral breast," says Dr. Bernard.

"The combined results of these studies validate what we have already
seen in our clinic, and that is that MRI breast cancer screening is
quickly becoming an indispensable tool," says Dr. Vallow. "Studies
like these are needed to pave the way toward greater use of MRI
breast cancer screening in newly diagnosed patients."

However, Dr. Vallow acknowledges that MRI scans need to be "faster,
cheaper, more accessible, and uniform across institutions," before it
can be widely used, and cautions that cancer centers that use MRI
also need to be able to perform MRI-guided biopsy of the suspected
tumor, if necessary. "There is huge variation in how clinics conduct
breast MRI screenings, because there is no quality control at the
moment," she says. "Patients at centers that don't offer MRI-guided
biopsy can end up having mastectomies because physicians there have
no way to investigate the findings seen on the scan."

New guidelines, issued in April by the American Cancer Society
(http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp), recommend that women
who are at high risk of developing breast cancer receive both annual
MRI and mammography scans starting at age 30.

###
VIDEO ALERT: Sound bites and b-roll from doctor are available through
Pathfire's Digital Media Gateway (DMG). See the end of this release
for details.

June 1, 2007 Nancy Jensen 904-953-2299 (days) 904-953-2000 (evenings)
e-mail: newsbureau@...

In Chicago 281-389-8831

EMBARGOED: Hold for release until Saturday, June 2, 2007, 2 p.m., CDT
American Society of Clinical Oncology

Other Mayo Clinic researchers contributing to both studies included
Satyaseelan Packianathan, M.D.; Deborah Feigel; Elizabeth DePeri,
M.D.; Steven Buskirk, M.D.; and Edith Perez, M.D.

To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to
www.mayoclinic.org/news. MayoClinic.com (www.mayoclinic.com) is
available as a resource for your health stories.

Video will be available on June 1, 2007, beginning at 5 p.m. CDT.
Mayo Clinic is now using Pathfire's Digital Media Gateway (DMG) for
video news distribution, to streamline our services and provide
content that is easily accessible as needed. On the DMG main page,
look for the Mayo Clinic branded page in the left navbar, or click on
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