A whole body MRI scan accurately detected breast tumors that had spread to the bone, even when there were no symptoms, offering a safe way to check patients, Indian researchers said on Thursday. 
They said whole body magnetic resonance imaging or MRI — which uses powerful magnets to create an image of the body — should be the method of choice for checking to see if breast cancer has spread.
"When we use whole body MRI, it is a non-radiating tool. You are not giving radiation, which can be carcinogenic for the patient, and you are following them up very effectively," Dr. Joshita Singh of the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital and Research Center in Pune, India, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.
Singh, who presented her findings at the American Roentgen Ray Society meeting in San Diego, said whole body MRI would be helpful both in staging patients — to determine the extent of the cancer and the best treatment approach — and to track the effectiveness of treatments, without adding to a patient’s cancer risk
[...] MRI scan accurately detected breast tumors that had spread to the bone [...]