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Highest-Quality Breast MRI

Breast MRI is a powerful – but often underutilized – diagnostic tool for diagnosing breast cancer. Shields offers breast MRI services at 17 of our locations, including our outpatient locations.

Five clinical situations where Breast MRI can benefit your patient:

Screening high-risk women
Evaluating uncertain lesions or cases, especially with dense or small-breasted women
Preoperative staging
Evaluating response to treatment, especially to allow for lumpectomy rather than mastectomy
Screening and evaluation of women with cancer symptoms and breast implant
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Recommended Annual Screening MRI For Breast Cancer

What do the experts say about breast MRI screening for women at higher risk for breast cancer?

Frequently Asked Questions

Breast MRI screening is recommended on an annual basis for women who are considered high-risk. Generally speaking, high-risk women include those who have had genetic testing or found to have a mutation that puts them at high risk of developing breast cancer, and women with a strong family history of having a mutation or breast cancer. Women who have had breast cancer without a genetic or hereditary predisposition are considered at moderate risk of recurrence and are not necessarily candidates for breast MRI.

Breast MRI is requested by your physician most often in cases where there is an abnormal mammogram or a history of breast cancer in a “first-degree” relative (parent, sibling, or child), or a genetic predisposition to breast cancer. It also can be helpful in screening women who have dense breast tissue, implants, or scar tissue that makes reading a mammogram difficult, or to determine if an implant has ruptured. Breast MRI is also meaningful to distinguish between recurrent tumors from radiation or surgical scar tissue. Breast MRI is most important for women diagnosed with breast cancer to determine the extent of the tumor and to assess the possibility of multiple tumors in the same or opposite breast. 

Breast MRI is not useful as a primary screening tool for the general population. Screening is most valuable for high-risk patients and patients with dense breast tissue. 

Breast MRI is extremely helpful at identifying invasive cancer. However, because breast MRI is highly sensitive, it can result in a higher rate of “false positive” exams. This may sometimes lead to follow-up imaging procedures, such as biopsies, for abnormalities that prove not to be cancerous. 

A breast MRI is best performed on a high-field MRI system with breast coils specifically designed for breast imaging. It is very helpful for the reading radiologist to have a dedicated breast imaging work station to assist in his or her interpretation, which Shields offers at all locations that provide breast MRI services.

Obtaining Authorization for Breast MRI

When a patient needs a breast MRI scan, getting authorization can be challenging. Insurance providers are extremely specific about what is required for approval, and missing one detail can mean denial. Use Shields helpful tips to make getting prior authorization for a Breast MRI, easier.

Our Breast MRI Partner Locations

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Breast MRI Locations

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Tufts Medical Center

755 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111, USA

Westford – Emerson Health

133 Littleton Road Westford, MA 01886

Concord – Emerson Hospital

133 Old Road to Nine Acre Corner Concord, MA 01742

Lewiston, ME – CMMC

12 High Street, Lewiston, ME 04240, USA

Wilken’s Outpatient Center – Hyannis

35 Wilkens Lane, Hyannis, MA 02601, USA

UMass Memorial – Marlborough Hospital

157 Union St, Marlborough, MA 01752, USA

Lowell General Hospital – Saints Campus

1 Hospital Dr., Lowell, MA 01854

UMass Memorial HealthAlliance Hospital – Leominster

100 Hospital Rd., Suite 1A Leominster, MA 01453

Baystate Franklin Medical Center – Greenfield

164 High St, Greenfield, MA 01301, USA

UMass Memorial (Shrewsbury St.) – Worcester

214 Shrewsbury St, Worcester, MA, USA

Baystate Health (Wason Ave.) – Springfield

80 Wason Ave, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA

Lowell General Hospital

295 Varnum Avenue, Lowell, MA, USA

Brighton

385 Western Avenue, Brighton, MA, USA

Winchester Hospital (Unicorn Park) – Woburn

200 Unicorn Park Drive, Woburn, MA, USA

Weymouth

26 Rockway Avenue, Weymouth, MA, USA

Anna Jaques Hospital – Newburyport

25 Highland Avenue, Newburyport, MA, USA

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