MRI’s May Not Be Good Test for Monitoring Breast Cancer

Up until recently, I supported using MRI tests to monitor for breast cancer, perhaps even getting yearly MRI tests if you find a lump or have a concern and don’t want to get a mammogram. Well, now even that test is apparently not without risks.

Just recently I had a pelvic MRI to evaluate my multiple uterine fibroids (8 total and 12 week pregnancy sized uterus). I was hoping to qualify for Exablate. I asked if I could get the MRI without the contrast dye. They said they needed it. I asked that because I had become more concerned about the risks of the contrast dye but I went ahead with the test and nothing bad happened.

However, I started acupuncture treatments recently and the Chinese doctor said my kidneys were “weak”.. Could that be from the several MRI tests I have had in the last 5 years? I think I have had 4-5 altogether.. as well as a CAT scan thrown in there…

Well now it seems the value of an MRI test is not really as good as I thought it was and could result in over-aggressive treatment. I am now wondering if, the MRI that triggered my entire slide into breast cancer scare hell, was because of this phenomenon? If so, I feel like I escaped this over treatment… But now you just have to wonder – what is a woman to do to monitor her health???

Excerpt:

A number of randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer who are treated with conservative therapy (consisting of a simple local excision and radiotherapy, if indicated) have the same survival rates as women who are subjected to the major surgery and trauma of total breast removal. However, in recent years the medical industry has pushed for MRIs to be used more and more in the preoperative staging of the affected breast in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer. The reason? MRIs supposedly can detect additional areas of cancer that do not show up on conventional imaging such as mammography and the imaging technique helps surgeons plan for breast tissue removal.

However, after reviewing the data, Dr. Houssami and Dr. Hayes concluded that using the MRI approach to local staging of breast cancer changes surgical management from breast conservation to more radical surgery without evidence of improvement in surgical outcomes or an improved long-term prognosis. In a statement to the media, the researchers called for well-designed, randomized controlled trials to find out any potential benefit of MRIs versus the harm they could be causing, including harm to the quality of life of women who may be having unnecessary radical mastectomies.

Full article

On another note – I can highly recommend finding a doctor trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine. I am getting the herbal treatments and acupuncture from a Chinese doctor and I am really feeling good overall. I sleep better and feel better in general. I’ve cut down on coffee. Now if I can just see a reduction in my abdominal size to show that the fibroids are shrinking.. I will be a total TCM convert! I’m in week 2 – about 6 treatments of acupuncture and close to 10 days on the Chinese herbs. We shall see!