Guidelines for Ordering Breast MRI

Breast MRI can be ordered for patients with:

• High risk:
  • a personal history of breast cancer
  • 2 or more 1st degree relatives who are pre-menopausal.
• The need to determine the extent of new cancer (staging).
• Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is planned to begin soon.
• Positive BRCA gene.
• Palpable, but not mammographically or ultrasonographically visible suspected cancer.
• Metastatic axillary node, with a question of primary cancer.
• Atypical breast biopsies.

Breast MR exams are optimally scheduled to coincide with the patient's menstrual cycles, since hormonal fluctuations may affect image quality.

While ideally the exams should be scheduled from day 8 through 14 of the menstrual cycle to obtain the most detailed images with the highest resolution, exams may also be scheduled on days 15 through 20 of the cycle.