Breast Cancer Health Center

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio waves to make pictures of the breast. MRI may show problems in the breast that cannot be seen on a mammogram, ultrasound, or CT scan.

The MRI makes pictures that show your breast's normal structure; tissue damage or disease, such as infection; inflammation; or a lump. MRI is better than mammography or ultrasound for looking at some breast lumps.

In most cases, a dye (contrast material) may be used so that abnormalities can be seen more clearly from normal breast tissue. The contrast material makes it easier to find problems with increased or abnormal blood flow, such as with some types of cancer or areas of inflammation.

MRI is a safe and valuable test for looking at the breast, but it has a high rate of false-positive results, and it is more costly than other methods and is not available in all hospitals.

See pictures of a standard MRI machine and an open MRI machine .

Why It Is Done

An MRI of the breast is done to:

• Find breast cancer. Breast MRI may be done when a mammogram or breast ultrasound scan cannot tell if a lump is cancer.
• Check women who are at high risk for breast cancer. MRI may be recommended as a screening tool for very high-risk women, such as those who test positive for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, or who have two or more close family members who have had breast or ovarian cancer before age 50.
• Check women who have dense breast tissue.
• Check the opposite breast. MRI is sometimes used to evaluate the opposite breast in women diagnosed with certain types of breast cancer.
• See what stage of breast cancer is present so the best treatment can be chosen.
• Look at breast tissue changes during treatment for breast cancer.
• Check breasts with inverted nipples for any sign of breast cancer.
• Find a breast implant rupture. MRI of the breast is the best test for this purpose.
• Look at a suspicious area of the breast for women with breast implants.