M.R.I.'s are hitting the stage

On March 28, 2007 Denise Grady from the New York Times reported that the Health department is now trying to introduce the use of magnetic resonance imaging to test for breast cancer rather than the good old mammography. These machines' extreme sensitivity may work as an advantage or a disadvantage. Since the sensitivity is so great, M.R.I's may report small clumps of tissue as being a sign of breast cancer, when in reality it was nothing other than benign. This results with the patient having to return for various other tests wasting time and money for something that did not exist. However, the machine a bit of a better tool to use than mammography because it is capable of finding some signs that would have been missed by the previous form of testing. M.R.I's cost $1000 to $2000 more than mammograms do and would result with the use of it costing at least $1 billion. Still, before being allowed to have a breast M.R.I, there are certain guidelines that reccoment the testing to certain women. So far, it has diagnosed cancers at the same time a mammogram would have and not any time sooner. Nevertheless, there are high hopes for this tester.

In 1966 was the first time an apparatus dedicated to scanning women for breast cancer was available. Previous to this appliance, doctors used a standar x-ray machine that did not always give accurate results. Many wmen had the cancer and were not able to treat it before it got any worse because of not knowing. Hopefully, the use of the M.R.I. is nothing less than a great addition to the discovery and treatment of breast cancer.