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Breast cancer is the second most common cancer that afflicts women and the third deadliest cancer in the United States. Many women undergo preventive screening for this cancer every year. The effectiveness of these health screenings has been under scrutiny in recent years and a debate has emerged in preventive medicine circles regarding the most effective method for breast cancer screening. Evidence now suggests that screening for breast cancer using MRI may be the most effective. This article will discuss research regarding the effectiveness of dedicated MRI for breast cancer screening, as well as the costs involved.

 

Traditional screening methods

The traditional method used to screen for breast cancer is mammography. Many women undergo annual screenings using this technology, which is low in cost. The amount of radiation delivered during a mammogram, however, may expose women to additional risks, making the screening test more hazardous for some women than the average risk of the cancer the test is supposed to detect. Recommendations regarding the frequency of breast cancer screening using mammography and the age at which women should start screenings has changed in recent years based on this concern.

Mammography is also limited in that it cannot screen areas of the chest wall where the breast tissue connects, so some cancers are missed even with regular screenings. Ultrasound is another method used to screen for breast cancer, especially in areas that cannot be reached by mammography. While inexpensive, ultrasound is time consuming and the effectiveness of the screening is often dependent on the skill of the person conducting the test. Even though special ultrasound machines have been developed for breast cancer screenings, the method is not widely used.

 

MRI for breast cancer screening

The up and coming method for breast cancer screening is magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. Using MRI to screen for breast cancer is non-invasive and can detect cancerous nodes of much smaller sizes. While normally used to screen for cancer in women who have a high risk for developing breast cancer, a recent study used MRI to screen 2120 volunteers who had already received normal screening results from traditional mammography or ultrasound and were considered to have average risk for developing breast cancer. An additional 60 cancers were detected in the volunteer group and 48 of these cases were detected during the initial MRI screening. The final cancer detection rate for this method of screening was determined to be 22.6 per 1000 women. The results of this study showed that MRI improves early detection of breast cancer in women who have average risk.

The downside to using MRI to screen for breast cancer is its cost. MRI machines are expensive and not widely available for use to conduct screenings. This situation is changing, however. Since the American Cancer Society began recommending screening by MRI for women at high risk for developing breast cancer, breast cancer treatment centers have begun utilizing dedicated breast cancer MRI machines to screen these women. Recent research, including the study cited above, has sparked interest in the medical community regarding the accuracy, safety and cost effectiveness of screening using dedicated MRI vs traditional mammography. The research is ongoing and the results are positive in favor of MRI.

 

Cost of screening using MRI

Sceptics in the medical community are calling for analysis of the cost effectiveness of using dedicated MRI to screen for breast cancer in women. The effectiveness of this screening method can be illustrated by a hypothetical cost analysis right here. These numbers are based on a city with a population of 1 million people, with 250,000 (25%) of this population being the women undergoing screening. It is also based on an assumption that 1 dedicated MRI screening takes 15 minutes to complete and that a dedicated MRI unit can complete 36,500 screenings per year. A third assumption is that treatment for 1 case of late stage breast cancer costs $200,000. Here are the numbers:

Breast cancer screening using dedicated MRI:

Number of dedicated MRI units required for a city with a population of 1 million = 7 units

Cost to operate 1 MRI unit per year = $4 million

Cost to operate 7 MRI units per year = $28 million

Cancer detection rate, based on 22.6 cases per 1000 women from the study cited above = 5650 cases.

Cost for early detection of 5650 cases of breast cancer = $28 million

Treatment for late stage breast cancer:

Cost for treatment of 1 case of late stage breast cancer = $200,000

Number of cases of breast cancer per city with a population of 1 million = 5650

Cost to treat 5650 cases of late stage breast cancer = $1,130 million

Even though this cost analysis does not include costs for treatment of early stage breast cancer, the differences in the numbers are staggering and show that screening using dedicated MRI for early detection of breast cancer is much more effective than treating the cases of breast cancer that might be missed through traditional screening methods. While actual costs for screenings and treatments vary by location, the difference in cost should be similar.

 

Health assessment at home

Clearly, screening for breast cancer using dedicated MRI is an effective option. Due to costs and varying insurance coverage, most women will want to justify the use of MRI for health assessment by tracking health factors at home. Conducting health checks at home and recording the data from those checks can help to show doctors that breast cancer screening is justified. Quantihealth can help set up the systems necessary for health assessment at home. Visit www.thequantihealth.com for more information.

 

Tags: health checks, health assessment, health screenings, Breast Cancer