49 Friend 2 Friend: New diagnostic tool can reassure breast cancer patients
7:28 p.m. Friday, August 8, 2008
It's been nearly a year since Kelly Monroe first heard the words no one wants to hear.
"It was scary but doable, but after some tests they thought it had spread already," Monroe said. "That was devastating for my husband and I and mostly to think about my children not having a mom to grow up."
The Lawrence mother of four young kids was originally diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. Further testing revealed the cancer had not spread as doctors originally thought. One of those tests was a breast MRI, a procedure Lawrence Memorial Hospital just started in the past couple of years.
"MRI sends a radio frequency wave and by a very complicated process, an image is formed which we then can interpret," LMH radiologist Dr. Jack Stuber said.
In Monroe's case, doctors were able to determine the three centimeter tumor was isolated to just one breast.
"It did confirm what they believed, it just being a tumor and it hadn't spread, so in that respect it just helped us feel at ease as to the surgery we chose," she said.
Monroe chose a lumpectomy, preceded by four months of chemotherapy, and followed up with 26 sessions of radiation. She wrapped up her treatment less than a month ago.
"I wonder if there will ever be a day I don't think about it," Monroe said.
Doctors say the new breast MRI technology should not be used as a replacement for mammograms, but the highly sensitive tests can provide reassurance for the right candidates.
"There will be an additional number of biopsies. Balance that with a woman having the reassurance that if the exam is normal, then it's 95 percent surety," Stuber said.
Monroe says there's one sure thing for other women in her situation...even if you do get the bad news, you will make it through it.
"You eventually get to the end of the tunnel, even though it seems like it will never end," she said.
Radiologists expect the number of breast MRI's to increase now that they've added a biopsy tool to the machine.
It allows doctors to immediately biopsy anything suspicious detected in the MRI, rather than forcing the women to go somewhere else for more tests.
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