Breast imaging technology continues to evolve…the goal, to find cancer as early as possible.

Now, a new study looks at the increasing use of breast MRI and how closely guidelines from the American Cancer Society are being followed. The A-C-S recommends breast MRI for carriers of the BRCA gene mutation and women with more than a 20 percent lifetime risk.

Researchers analyzed data from five national Breast Cancer Surveillance registries.

They found that the rate of breast MRI went from 4.2 exams per 1,000 women in 2005 to 11.5 exams per 1,000 women in 2009.

The procedure was most commonly used on women who had a personal or family history of breast cancer, had extremely dense breast tissue, had never had a baby and were under 50 years old.

The proportion of women screened with breast MRI who had high lifetime risk of the disease increased from 9 percent to 29 percent over the study time period.

The results suggest improvements in the use of breast MRI, which is more sensitive and can lead to higher false-positives.

I’m Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV with the news doctors are reading health news that matters to you.

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