On Mar. 28, 2007, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans of women who were diagnosed with cancer in one breast detected over 90% of cancers in the other breast that were missed by mammography and clinical breast exam at initial diagnosis, according to a new study.

Given the established rates of mammography and clinical breast exams for detecting cancer in the opposite, or contralateral breast, adding an MRI scan to the diagnostic evaluation effectively doubled the number of cancers immediately found in these women.