Should screening MRI be included in surveillance for patients treated with breast-conserving therapy?

Abstract

Breast MRI has been shown to provide diagnostic benefit in multiple situations. It has proved useful in the evaluation of ruptured silicone implants and in the evaluation of patients with cancerous axillary lymph nodes, a negative mammogram and unremarkable physical examination. Gorechlad et al. carried out a retrospective study designed to determine whether MRI has a role in screening for cancer recurrence in patients treated with breast-conserving therapy. As the results showed that the recurrence rate and risk of contralateral disease were both very low, the authors concluded that MRI screening would not have been cost-effective and was unlikely to have improved overall survival.