Breast Cancer: many women for breast cancer refuse M.R.I. screening

Many women at risk for breast cancer do not accept to undergo M.R.I. tests, often saying they have claustrophobia and cannot tolerate the closed machines required for breast imaging. One-fourth of the women who refused said they had claustrophobia, and just under one-fifth cited time constraints.

Of 1,214 women eligible for magnetic resonance imaging as part of a screening trial at a number of centers, 57.9 percent agreed to an M.R.I. and 42.1 percent declined. For the procedure, they had to be injected with a contrast agent and spend about 30 minutes in a closed machine, said the study’s lead author, Dr. Wendie A. Berg, a radiologist in Maryland who specializes in breast screening.

M.R.I. screening is often recommended for those at high or intermediate risk for breast cancer, as some tumors may be missed by mammography and ultrasound screening.

Women at highest risk for breast cancer, with a lifetime risk of 25 percent or more, were more likely to participate than others, according to the study, which appears in the January issue of the journal Radiology.

“There’s a tremendous push to do more and more M.R.I.’s,” Dr. Berg said, “because it is such a sensitive test. But if it isn’t going to be well tolerated by women, it can’t be the only option for supplemental screening.”