A new study has shown that magnetic resonance imaging scans (MRIs) were more effective at detecting early stages of breast cancer than traditional mammograms.

The research, published in the Lancet medical journal, found that 92 per cent of cases of early breast cancer were detected by the MRI scan, whereas only 56 per cent of cases were detected by the mammogram.

At a national breast centre in Germany, the researchers analysed MRIs carried out for women who were at an increased risk of breast cancer, had an abnormal mammogram, or had a normal mammogram but were particularly concerned about breast cancer.

Cancer Research UK’s professor of screening Stephen Duffy welcomed the research: “The results are interesting and add weight to the findings of a UK study published in 2005 which found MRI to be more sensitive than mammography to invasive cancers in women at high genetic risk.”

However, he called for further studies to be conducted before conclusive results could be drawn: “While this study provides further evidence of the benefit of MRI examinations in high-risk women, none of these studies has concluded that MRI should replace mammography. The consensus is that they should be used in tandem for high-risk women.”

High-fat diet may increase breast cancer risk. According to a large study of middle-age women with a wide range of fat in their diet shows that eating a high-fat diet raises the risk of developing invasive breast cancer. This report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, stem from the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study, in which 188,736 postmenopausal women reported detailed information on their diet in the mid-1990s. During an average follow-up of 4.4 years, 3501 women developed breast cancer.

Based on responses to a 124-item “food frequency” questionnaire, researchers found that women who got 40 percent of their calories from fat had about a 15 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer compared with women got 20 percent of their calories from fat. The increased risk of breast cancer associated with a high-fat diet was seen for all types of fat (saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) and seemed to be confined to women who were not using hormone replacement therapy at the start of the study.

In a commentary on the study, two researchers from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston think that focusing on controlling body fat, rather than fat intake, would be more effective in preventing breast cancer.

The “modest associations” that have been observed between high-fat diets and increased breast cancer risk “stand in sharp contrast to the robust evidence for a strong link between (body fat) and the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer,” write Drs. Stephanie Smith-Warner and Meir Stampfer.

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, March 21, 2007