TORONTO, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Women who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation may find a MRI examination more accurate for detecting breast cancer than mammography, a Canada study found.
Women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations have a lifetime risk of breast cancer of up to 85 percent, with a significantly higher risk of breast cancer than the general population from age 25, according to researchers at the Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Center.
It's recommended such women undergo breast surveillance from age 25 years onward with mammography annually and clinical breast examination every 6 months.
During the study period, there were 22 cancers detected and of these, 17 were detected by MRI versus 8 by mammography, 7 by ultrasound, and 2 by CBE.
"This study of 236 BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers demonstrates that the addition of annual MRI and ultrasound to mammography and CBE significantly improves the sensitivity of surveillance for detecting early breast cancers," the authors write in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
