How Accurate Is Mri In Diagnosing Prostate Cancer

Getting The Results Of The Biopsy

Accuracy of ExactVu MicroUltrasound for Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer

Your biopsy samples will be sent to a lab, where they will be looked at with a microscope to see if they contain cancer cells. Getting the results usually takes at least 1 to 3 days, but it can sometimes take longer. The results might be reported as:

Positive for cancer: Cancer cells were seen in the biopsy samples.
Negative for cancer: No cancer cells were seen in the biopsy samples.
Suspicious: Something abnormal was seen, but it might not be cancer.

If the biopsy is negative

If the prostate biopsy results are negative , and the chance that you have prostate cancer isnt very high based on your PSA level and other tests, you might not need any more tests, other than repeat PSA tests sometime later.

But even if many samples are taken, biopsies can still sometimes miss a cancer if none of the biopsy needles pass through it. This is known as a false-negative result. If your doctor still strongly suspects you have prostate cancer , your doctor might suggest:

Getting other lab tests to help get a better idea of whether or not you might have prostate cancer. Examples of such tests include the Prostate Health Index , 4Kscore test, PCA3 tests , and ConfirmMDx. These tests are discussed in Whats New in Prostate Cancer Research?
Getting a repeat prostate biopsy. This might include getting additional samples of parts of the prostate not biopsied the first time, or using imaging tests such as MRI to look more closely for abnormal areas to target.

Prostate cancer grade

Gleason score

Will The Mri Be Done With An Endorectal Coil Or An External Pelvic Coil

Some radiology practices use an endorectal coil a probe-like device covered with latex which is inserted into the rectum and helps provide high-quality images of the prostate.; With a newer, high-quality MRI system, endorectal coils are not necessary and an external pelvic coil can be used instead, eliminating patient discomfort while maintaining high quality images.;

The Best Prostate Cancer Screening And Detection Tool Is The 3t Mri

To date, the newer versions of the 3T MRI are the most reliable devices for screening and detecting the 15% or so of potentially deadly high-grade prostate cancers. Unlike the current standard screening and detection methods, the 3T MRI evaluates the WHOLE of the prostate, can ignore the bogus G6 cancer and, based upon imaging details in a properly conducted study, able to identify reliably with PIRADS 4 and 5 features, almost all high-grade cancer anywhere within the prostate. Any high-grade areas identified can then be targeted for needle biopsy under real-time 3T MRI for confirmation of disease as only these particular prostate cancers demand detection and treatment. However, because imaging studies are highly insensitive and, high-grade cells can reside in the bone marrow for many years undetected, treatment of some apparently localized high-grade prostate cancers can lead to a semblance of cure, especially when only followed for a few years.Joe Busch MD, prostate MRI specialist, Chattanooga, Tennessee www.drcradiology.com/

Read Also: What Is A Prostate Vibrator

Imaging Tests For Prostate Cancer

Imaging tests use x-rays, magnetic fields, sound waves, or radioactive substances to create pictures of the inside of your body. One or more imaging tests might be used:

To look for cancer in the prostate
To help the doctor see the prostate during certain procedures
To look for spread of prostate cancer to other parts of the body

Which tests you might need will depend on the situation. For example, a prostate biopsy is typically done with transrectal ultrasound and/or MRI to help guide the biopsy. If you are found to have prostate cancer, you might need imaging tests of other parts of your body to look for possible cancer spread.

The imaging tests used most often to look for prostate cancer spread include:

Ways Prostate Mri Can Improve Diagnostic Accuracy

Prostate MRI Directed Biopsy Appears Superior

This year, the American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 175,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer . But despite being the most common cancer among men, excluding skin cancer, theres no one size fits all solution for determining prostate cancer risk.

So how can men find a balance between avoiding the drawbacks of screening, while also ensuring nothing goes undetected? Prostate MRI, combined with a second opinion, could be the answer.

You May Like: How To Know If You Have Prostatitis

Bluelaser 3t Mpmri: Better Early Detection

If a high PSA raises suspicion of cancer, the next step before biopsy is to obtain an accurate 3D image of the gland that defines both normal and cancerous tissue. It is just as important to see what is healthy as what is unhealthy! Ultrasound doesnt do this because it cant reveal specific differences needed to detect what is and isnt cancer.

Our BlueLaser 3T mpMRI Plus features the latest advance in multiparametric imaging sequences. It is called Restricted Spectrum Imaging powered by AI, and it takes cancer detection to a whole new level. RSI was originally developed for brain imaging where it accurately picks up previously undetectable but telltale differences in neurological diseases. When applied to prostate imaging, potentially cancerous lesions literally stand out.

Studies now show that combining technological breakthroughs and expertise1 makes an essential difference. By offering the increased accuracy of both RSI2 powered by AI3 together with the pioneering experience of Dr. Sperling and his team, the Sperling Prostate Center remains at the forefront of prostate cancer imaging.;

RSI-MRI+ leverages an advanced diffusion MRI technique called Restriction Spectrum Imaging, powered by AI, to enable faster, more accurate prostate cancer detection.

Remember: Early prostate cancer has NO SYMPTOMS. Early detection results in better diagnosis, better treatment decisions and better outcomes.

The Highly Unreliable Dre

The DRE is a finger examination of the prostate that has the same accuracy as a coin-toss. Performing this feeble test every few months during so-called prostate cancer surveillance makes no scientific sense; can be very uncomfortable; is especially unreliable for detecting the potentially deadly 15% or so of high-grade cancers early and, the examination is open to errors of interpretation and concerns for, feeling something; sensing a nodule or, feeling unevenness . Terms designed to create confusion and doubt and, push men towards unneeded but money-making evaluations.

Don’t Miss: Can Prostate Issues Cause Erectile Dysfunction

Use Of Mri For Surveillance Of Prostate Cancer

The concept of observation as a therapeutic option for men with clinically localized prostate cancer has been well established and is associated with excellent long-term progression-free survival in men with favorable malignancy on prostate biopsy. Chodak et al. demonstrated in a large multi-institutional pooled analysis of 828 men that conservative therapy, also known as watchful waiting, resulted in disease-specific survival of 87% at 10 years for men with either grade 1 or grade 2 cancer. The finding that the metastasis-free survival for men with Grade 2 adenocarcinoma was only 58% at 10 years suggested that there was a role for a more active monitoring strategy in some men.125 More contemporary trials, including PIVOT and Protec T, support surveillance rather immediate treatment in contemporary patients, most likely to get diagnosed with serum PSA where the risk of overdiagnosis has been established.126,127

Despite this conclusion, significant opportunities exist for further refinement of active surveillance protocols to better risk-stratify men at initial entry into these protocols and to better target the regions of the prostate that could harbor a malignancy that would require a delayed therapeutic intervention. The combination of advanced imaging with MRI, altered biopsy approaches, , and the use of molecular markers appear to improve the outcomes of active surveillance.

Key Point

Use Of Mri Reduces Biopsy Burden For Prostate Cancer

Five Uses for MRI In Prostate Cancer | Prostate Cancer Staging Guide

Targeted Therapies in Oncology

Newer MRI techniques are being tested to improve the accuracy of prostate cancer diagnosis. Three presentations during the 2018 American Urological Association Annual Meeting discussed potential approaches to reduce the need for prostate biopsies for men with prostate cancer

Negative prostate MRIs combined with a negative biopsy history and low prostate-specific antigen density enabled investigators to rule out the presence of clinically significant and high-grade prostate cancer with 95% accuracy, according to the results of one study presented during the meeting.1

The combination of negative MRI, negative biopsy history, and PSAD <0.15 ng/mL/cc was associated with a negative predictive value of 95%. With a higher PSAD and a non-negative prostate biopsy history, the NPV declined by more than 20%. The results led investigators to propose an MRI-based algorithm for determining the need for prostate biopsy.

If the patient had a prior negative biopsy, we then assess the markers, and if the levels are high or suspicious, the patient has a biopsy. If not, then the patient may avoid a prostate biopsy, Abreu said.

MRI AND SURVEILLANCE COMPLIANCE

INCREASING USE OF PROSTATE MRI

Choosing Between A Prostate Mri Vs Biopsy

Whats worse than a false-positive PSA? A false-negative biopsy.;

Research shows that 35% of biopsy results are false negatives. This means despite the invasive sampling of tissues, cancer can go undetected and continue to grow while symptoms persist.;

Thats why having a prostate MRI before a biopsy is preferable. It shows the location of potential cancer, which helps direct the biopsy sampling.

Before you decide to get a prostate MRI vs. biopsy, here are a few things to know.;

The Prostatic Specific Antigen

In order for a prostate cancer screening test to be of health benefit it should be both highly specific and, highly sensitive for detecting ONLY potentially lethal prostate cancers. However, the PSA is neither specific and, is highly insensitive for detecting only significant prostate cancers.

Despite a standard FDA approval resting primarily on whether a device is safe and effective, the highly ineffective PSA and its 78 percent FALSE POSITIVE RATE was given an FDA approval in 1994. The high false positive rate is because the PSA leads to the detection of mainly benign and non-lethal prostate conditions and, commonly FAILS to lead to the detection of the 15 percent or so of important, potentially lethal high-grade prostate cancers.

Also Check: Does Enlarged Prostate Cause Constipation

What Is An Mri

What makes an MRI different from other medical imaging techniques like X-rays and CT scans? X-rays take projection images of hard tissues like bones, while CT scans take images of both hard bony tissues and soft tissue. Both systems use ionizing radiation, which passes through the body to create images that are transferred to photographic film or to a video monitor.;

An MRI works differently. Magnetic resonance imaging uses a magnetic field to create sound waves that are received, digitized, and displayed in real-time. When tissue is abnormal, its composition changes, so the images reflect damaged areas.

Is Bluelaser 3t Mpmri Right For You

Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with. -R.S. Lynd

Our BlueLaser 3T mpMRI empowers our patients by providing accurate knowledge about whats going on in their bodies, both normal and disease. You should consider BlueLaser 3T mpMRI for the earliest possible detection if:

You have an elevated or rising PSA
You have an abnormal DRE
You were treated for a prostate infection or inflammation but your PSA is still high
You are on Active Surveillance
You are in a high-risk category to develop prostate cancer
You have not had a PSA test but you have unusual urinary symptoms

The Highly Unreliable Ultrasound

The standard ultrasound-guided, 12-core needle biopsy of the prostate to try and detect prostate cancer is both unscientific and, highly unreliable. Not only is the trans-rectal ultrasound part of the study blind and unable to identify high-grade prostate cancer but, despite the knowledge that prostate cancer often develops in more than one area of the prostate and or, at different times , this blind needle biopsy test samples randomly only some 0.1%0.3% of the prostate to leave one absolutely uninformed about the 99% rest of the prostateespecially so for the anterior portion of the prostate. This highly inaccurate biopsy test is also responsible for all of the confusion related to so-called prostate cancer upgrading and progression.

Data Extraction And Quality Assessment

The information extracted from the studies were as follows: characteristics of study: the authors name, publication year, country, study design , the definition of csPCa; patient characteristics: patient number, patient age, biopsy-naïve , location of lesions, PSA levels, prostate volume, prostate-specific antigen density ; and imaging characteristics: coil, the b values of DWI sequence, magnetic field strength, and the description of the reference standard. When multiple readers provided each result independently, we used the average value because the interobserver agreement of studies included was generally favorable. True and false positive and true and false negative from included studies were extracted to compute sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio , negative likelihood ratio , diagnostic odds ratios and area under the curves .

We applied the revised instrument for the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool to assess the quality of the included studies by RevMan software . The risks of bias were also scored, such as patient selection and index texts.

You May Like: How To Tell Prostate Cancer

What Is A Prostate Biopsy

There are two main types of prostate biopsies transrectal ultrasound guided biopsies and transperineal biopsies. As the former tends to be more common, well focus on this method.

biopsies use ultrasound guidance with a biopsy tool to snip core samples from the prostate gland. An ultrasound probe and biopsy tool are introduced into the rectum where a biopsy needle penetrates the rectal wall and enters the prostate. The procedure is repeated up to 12 times.

Transrectal prostate biopsies are outpatient or in-office procedures that require only numbing medicine. Passing a needle through the rectum and into the prostate places you at risk of infection. To minimize the risk of infection, urologists commonly prescribe antibiotics beforehand.;

Other complications from prostate biopsies include:

Blood in urine, semen, and stool
Pain

Medical History And Physical Exam

What are the benefits of mpMRI scanning for prostate cancer diagnosis?

If your doctor suspects you might have prostate cancer, he or she will ask you about any symptoms you are having, such as any urinary or sexual problems, and how long you have had them. You might also be asked about possible risk factors, including your family history.

Your doctor will also examine you. This might include a digital rectal exam , during which the doctor inserts a gloved, lubricated finger into your rectum to feel for any bumps or hard areas on the prostate that might be cancer. If you do have cancer, the DRE can sometimes help tell if its only on one side of the prostate, if its on both sides, or if its likely to have spread beyond the prostate to nearby tissues. Your doctor may also examine other areas of your body.

After the exam, your doctor might then order some tests.

Also Check: Will Bacterial Prostatitis Go Away

Prostate Mri Can Help Differentiate Between Harmless And Aggressive Cancers Preventing The Overdiagnosis Of Low

There are two forms of prostate cancer: aggressive and harmless. Fortunately, out of all prostate cancer cases, only a fraction will be aggressive and clinically significant. The majority will never impact the well-being or life expectancy of a patient.

Prostate MRI can help reduce the number of men who are over-diagnosed by 5%.

A prostate MRI scan enables radiologists to better differentiate between aggressive and harmless cancers by providing information about a tumors size, density, and proximity to the bloodstream. One study comparing prostate MRI to biopsy found MRI scans to correctly diagnose 93% of tumors, whereas biopsy correctly diagnosed only 48%. Identifying non-threatening forms of prostate cancer helps decrease the risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

But do keep in mind that MRIs can be complex images for radiologists to interpret. Coupling a prostate MRI with a subspecialty second opinion from a fellowship-trained radiologist can help maximize the advantages and efficacy of the screening. This can be done completely online and is especially recommended for scans that indicate the possibility of aggressive prostate cancer.

CONNECT WITH A SPECIALIST

Take Charge of Your Health

Get a second opinion from a radiology specialist in 3 easy steps.

Mri And Targeted Biopsy As Accurate As Current Standard For Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

Results from the phase 3 PRECISE trial showed that MRI with targeted biopsies matched or exceeded the accuracy of the current standard for detecting clinically significant prostate cancer.

Results from the phase 3 Prostate Evaluation for Clinically Important Disease: MRI vs Standard Evaluation Procedures trial showed that MRI with targeted biopsies matched or exceeded the accuracy of the current standard for detecting clinically significant prostate cancer.1

The current standard, a systematic 12-core transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy , can potentially lead to overdiagnosis in low-risk prostate cancer and underdiagnosis in some cases of higher risk prostate cancer.2 Repeat biopsies, overtreatment of insignificant disease, and delayed or misdiagnosis of clinically significant disease can result.

Authors of the new study, which was published in JAMA Oncology, aimed to find out whether MRI-TBxonly targeting lesions with a Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2.0 score of 3 or greaterwould be noninferior to the 12-core TRUS-Bx in detecting International Society of Urological Pathology grade group 2 or greater prostate cancer.

The study included biopsy-naïve patients suspected of having prostate cancer who were told to undergo a biopsy. Criteria included:

References

2. Churukanti G, Siddiqi MM.MRITRUS fusion biopsy versus 12-core systematic biopsy. Nat Rev Urol. Published online June 16, 2015. doi:10.1038/nrurol.2015.143

Don’t Miss: How To Get To A Man’s Prostate