Breast MRI (MR mammography)

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women: about one in eight women develops it in her lifetime, and around 75,000 new cases and about 18,500 deaths are registered each year.⁴ Decisive for the prognosis is how early a change is detected: tumours under two centimetres without lymph-node involvement have a very good prognosis.⁵ This is exactly where contrast-enhanced MRI is strong – it is the most sensitive imaging method of the breast and, through the perfusion behaviour, makes even small tumours visible that remain hidden in mammography in dense tissue.⁶ For a proven high risk it is internationally recommended as a preventive method.¹ Important: statutory mammography remains the established screening method with a proven reduction in mortality – MRI complements it where its sensitivity makes the decisive difference. For context: as feared as breast cancer is, cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in women and, at a good third of all deaths, claims more lives than all cancers combined.⁷ Whether MR mammography makes sense in your case is something we clarify together and in coordination with your gynaecologist.

Studies show how large the difference is: in very dense breast tissue, X-ray mammography detects only about half of all tumours (48 %), whereas in fatty tissue it detects almost all (98 %).⁹ In the German EVA trial in women at increased familial risk, MRI found 93 % of cancers, mammography 33 % and ultrasound 37 %.¹⁰ In the Dutch DENSE trial, supplemental MRI in very dense breasts halved the number of cancers occurring between two screening rounds (2.5 instead of 5.0 per 1,000 examinations).¹¹ The flip side of this high sensitivity: MRI also finds more benign changes that need further work-up – which is why it belongs in experienced hands.