Bold headlines across consumer media sites like CNN and Reuters recently stated, “MRI scans might prevent breast cancer.” Radiologists who have followed the debate comparing MRI breast to mammography through the medical journals might say – it’s not that simple.

Women’s imaging specialists have acknowledged it for some time, but now the American Cancer Society has issued guidelines that underscore the value of MRI breast cancer screening for high-risk women. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that when cancer is diagnosed in one breast, the other should undergo an MRI exam.