One of the concerns about routine mammography
is that there are many false positives that lead to unnecessary biopsies
and issues. This occurs to ensure we catch all cancers, but has led to
some recommendations of decreased screening when looking at a risk/benefit profile.
I recently mentioned the improved accuracy of the 3-D mammogram. More
accurate and specific, as many of you know, is the MRI of the breast.
However, until now this took 30-45 minutes and was very expensive. Most
insurance companies require complex pre-approval processes.
Now
a group in Germany have developed a 3 minute breast MRI which is more
accurate and produces much less false positive results than standard
mammograms. Presumably the cost will be closer to existing mammograms.
If this is the case, there is the potential that the rapid breast MRI
will replace current mammograms!
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