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A panel convened by the American Cancer Society (ACS) has issued new recommendations for the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in women at increased risk of breast cancer. The panel advises annual screening using MRI in addition to mammography in women with a 20% to 25% or greater lifetime risk of the disease.

  
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The panel says that in addition to mammography, annual screening using MRI is recommended for women who have a BRCA1 or 2 mutation, those with a first-degree relative with a BRCA1 or 2 mutation and are untested, women who received radiation treatment to the chest between 10 and 30 years of age, and those who carry or have a first-degree relative who carries a genetic mutation I of the TP53 or PTEN genes.

 

The ACS estimates that the recommendations apply to as many as 1.4 million women.