Increase in mastectomies performed in patients in the community setting undergoing MRI

This study is designed to determine whether the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) leads to an increased number of unnecessary mastectomies in breast cancer patients in the community setting. This is a retrospective study of the records of 178 patients from the local offices of three community physicians. The medical records of patients over the age of 18 with breast cancer who underwent both MRI and mammogram imaging were reviewed. MRI detected more lesions than mammogram; however, these lesions were not cancerous. The lesions detected by mammogram correlated more with pathologic lesions. Of the 59 patients who underwent mastectomies, 78% had MRI and 22% did not have the imaging. Of the 100 patients who had both MRI and mammogram, 48% underwent lumpectomy and 46% had mastectomy. More patients who had both imaging modalities underwent mastectomies compared to those who had mammogram alone. The addition of MRI evaluation in patients with breast cancer is related to increased unnecessary mastectomies.