Breast MRI

"I was shocked. Absolutely shocked," Becky Quinn, a breast cancer survivor, said.

When 52-year-old Becky Quinn was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago, like so many other women, she says she couldn't believe it.

"My mother had breast cancer, but she's 90 and healthy and living today. You never think it's going to happen to you. You think 'I'm healthy, I'm fine.' And this is not going to happen to me," Quinn said.

But according to the American Cancer Society, Quinn was at high risk. That's because her mother had suffered from the disease. If she had made that connection three years ago, she could have had a different type of screening that might have caught the tumors earlier.

"I would have had a breast MRI, which potentially could have avoided surgery, chemo and everything that I've gone through," Quinn said.

A new survey from Washington Radiology Associates is finding that there are a lot of women like Quinn who have no idea that they're extremely vulnerable to developing breast cancer.

"What we found was that less than three percent of our patients actually knew their own personal risk of developing breast cancer, and it seemed that in this population of very sophisticated, knowledgeable women, that just seemed really off," Dr. Ingrid Ott, a radiologist, said.

Radiologist Dr. Ingrid Ott says the American Cancer Society changed their guidelines more than two years ago, recommending that women who are at high risk should get a breast MRI, along with their annual mammogram. But women still weren't coming in and that was cause for concern.

"Where are their risks getting assessed? Where are their doctors doing this? So the results showed us that they don't know their risks and that's why they're probably not getting their breast MRI's," Dr. Ott said.

According to new research, a breast MRI can make a big difference.

"Mammograms are great, but they're not perfect. It has been proven in clinical trials is that the most sensitive tool for detecting breast cancer is MRI," Dr. Ott said.

But these types of screenings can also find false positives, leading to unnecessary anxiety and further invasive testing, like biopsies. That's why MRI is only recommended for those who are high risk for developing breast cancer.

The American Cancer Society has found that these patients include women who have certain gene mutations, a first degree relative like a parent or a sibling with breast cancer or those who have been treated with radiation to the chest between the ages of 10 and 30.

"Women can now really understand their breast health situation in a way that I wish I did three years ago," Quinn said.