What happens at an breast mri if your not screening for breast cancer but screening for both breasts that have inverted nipple discharge? i'm 18.

Same: Rarely do screening for breast cancer unless patient is at high risk. You are evaluating an abnormality so the test is the same.

Seems unusual: An MRI for breast screening at age 18 seems unusual. Generally a physical examination, breast ultrasound, and possibly mammogram would be used more commonly. Screening for nipple inversion also seems unusual, as nipple inversion can be normal and a chronic stable condition for some women. Otherwise an MRI of the breast is the same for all conditions being evaluated.

Rule out a mass: It is very unusual for an 18 year old to have a breast cancer and a congenital cause for your nipple inversion is more likely ask your doctor why they ordered the mri.

Careful with MRI: Mri has a high sensitivity but low specificity and often finds many benign lesions. That increases worry and leads to more tests and biopsies, but rarely finds cancer. I wouldn't recommend MRI here. Bilateral nipple discharge is common and not worrisome for cancer, and cancer at age 18 is extremely unlikely. There are other tests to determine the cause of the discharge or if it is of concern.

Bilateral: nipple changes/discharge is almost invariably due to benign causes, particularly in an 18 year old in whom the baseline probability of malignancy is remote. But to answer your question, the Breast MRI is performed the same way for screening as it is for a diagnostic work up.