Published: October 16, 2008 08:22 am      

Waging war on breast cancer

There is a new weapon in the fight against breast cancer in this region.

Magnetic resonance imaging can find cancer not picked up on a mammogram and can help identify and map out surgical options for tumors found by the mammogram.

“The MRI is a very important tool,” Dr. Sherri Chafin said from St. Clair Hospital in Mount Lebanon. “What it does is allow us to look at the physiology of the breast cancer.”

A radiologist with South Hills Radiology at St. Clair, Chafin reads MRI scans done with the new breast coil at Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center in Windber.

The technology shows “soft” tissue better than the X-rays of a traditional mammogram, which is still the gold standard for breast cancer detection, said Erin Goins, director of MRI and Imaging Services at the Windber facility.

“This will not replace the mammogram,” Goins said.

“The MRI can help to see the tumor better. We can, with the MRI, give contrast to see the extent of what is there.”

Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown has purchased an MRI breast coil and will have its program ramped up by the end of the year, radiologist Stanley Golden said.

“It has generated some excitement in terms of the testing and what it can add to the diagnostics,” Golden said.

The MRI is being recommended as a supplemental screening for women at high risk for breast cancer. These patients include those with close relatives who developed breast cancer and those who have were previously treated for cancer.

“In a patient with known cancer, we can use it in pre-operational planning,” Golden continued. “It is used for problem solving.”

Mapping out the tumor with magnetic imaging can help surgeons be sure they are removing the entire cancer, Goins said. Windber’s breast surgeon, Dr. Dianna Craig, consults with Chafin by phone while viewing the same digital images on computer screens 80 miles apart.

“It’s the same way we consult with surgeons down the street,” Chafin said. “They don’t come into the office and consult with us. So far, it’s working very well with Dr. Craig and our team here.”

The MRI scan also is helpful for screening women with dense breasts, Chafin noted.

“With a mammogram you are looking for things that are white,” Chafin said. “Dense breast tissue is white on a mammogram.”

There are limitations. Mammograms are best at picking up tumors where small deposits of calcium are present. The MRI misses more of those tumors. While it may show some other cancer the mammogram misses, the MRI is prone to more false positives, requiring more tests.

“That’s why the recommendations are really just for the high-risk patients,” she said.