Breast MRI Soon To Be Available at Quincy Medical Center
“There’s something new in the neighborhood!” It’s called breast MRI. Dr. Richard A. Moss, Boston Breast Augmentation specialist comments, “We are fortunate to have equipment as sophisticated and state of the art, as we are going to have at Quincy Medical Center. Instead of travelling to Boston or Brockton, our patients will be able to conveniently have these tests close to home.”
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) uses magnets and radio waves instead of x-rays to produce very detailed, cross-sectional images of the body. This technology incorporates the use of computer software that processes the signals to generate these images, each of which shows a thin slice of the body. MRI studies do not expose patients to x-ray radiation.
Currently, MRI utilizing additional dedicated equipment called a breast coil is the test that physicians use to determine whether a silicone gel breast implant is intact or ruptured. The FDA recommends that patients have an MRI of their breasts 3 years from the time of surgery and then every two years after that. Although the rupture rate is not very high, if a breast implant has ruptured most women would want to replace it.
While most hospitals have MRI capability, few have the necessary technology required for breast imaging. Quincy Medical Center in conjunction with Alliance Imaging, Inc. is in the process of setting up their MRI equipment with a dedicated breast coil. Part of the set up included calibration of the equipment involving a patient who had silicone gel implants. Dr. Moss’ wife Carla, who has 200cc silicone gel implants, participated in this calibration. The following is a recap of her experience.
“I was delighted to be involved in the calibration of the new equipment for breast MRI. Since we may have patients who want to avail themselves of this test in the future, I find it advantageous to have experienced it personally. Having an MRI is not painful. While it does take about 30 minutes and involves lying on your stomach, you are able to move slightly in between the scan sequences. Most importantly, since you are lying on your stomach you are able to look up and out of the front of the MRI unit. Therefore, any sense of claustrophobia I might have had was essentially eliminated.”
This is a picture of Carla Moss lying on the MRI table. Her breasts are positioned in the breast coil which is anatomically designed to accommodate two breasts.
MRI’s of the breast are also used for detection of breast cancer. While breast MRI’s are not currently recommended for routine screening of patients who are not at increased risk for breast cancer, they are recommended as a screening test for women at high risk (greater than 20%) for breast cancer. It is recommended that women at moderately increased risk (15%-20%) discuss with their physicians the benefits and limitations of adding MRI screening to their yearly mammogram. The American Cancer Society classifies women at high risk as those with a strong family history of the disease or with a genetic mutation that predisposes them to breast cancer.
Whenever MRI’s are used for the screening of breast cancer the MRI is used as an adjunct to the mammogram, not as a replacement. An MRI is more sensitive (detects cancer more frequently) than a mammogram, however an MRI also has a higher level of false positives. This would mean that patients might have a higher number of unnecessary biopsies.
MRI tests are always read and interpreted by a radiologist. A radiologist is a physician who is trained to interpret many different types of imaging. He/she then dictates a written report that is provided to the physician who has ordered the MRI test. Radiologists who are involved in interpreting breast MRI’s receive training specific to this area of radiology.
This is an example of what an MRI looks like. The large oval in the breast is a 200cc silicone gel implant.
The radiologist who will be reading and interpreting the breast MRI’s at Quincy Medical Center is Dr. Nanci M. Mercer. Dr. Mercer received her MD degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Her post-graduate training was at the Oakwood Healthcare System. She also completed two fellowship training programs as well. One was in Neuroradiology at William Beaumont Hospital and the second one was in Radiology at the University of Chicago. Dr. Mercer is also on staff at Boston Medical Center. Dr Mercer has been reading Breast MRI since 2004, and started Breast MR services at two hospitals prior to joining the BMC team last year.
Dr. Moss will be providing more information on the breast MRI capabilities at Quincy Medical Center once the department is able to schedule patients. Quincy Medical Center will be providing a comprehensive Breast MR service including state of the art vacuum assisted core biopsies under MR guidance. It is expected that patients will be able to be scheduled for breast MRI’s at Quincy Medical Center starting in either November or December, 2007.