June 1, 2018 – MRI and Prostate Biopsy

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Anchor lead: MRI helps when it comes to prostate biopsy, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Using magnetic resonance imaging or MRI, in conjunction with ultrasound guidance, improved detection of cancer in prostate biopsies, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, reviews the results.

Nelson: They took 500 men and randomized them to one or the other approaches. On the ones that got the magnetic resonance imaging 28% of them were felt not to have findings on magnetic resonance imaging suggestive of prostate cancer, at least of a significant prostate cancer.  And they were not subjected to biopsies. And then if you look at the clinically significant prostate cancers, these are the ones more likely to be life-threatening, they were detected a little bit more effectively, 38% versus 26% :30

Nelson says one caveat remains regarding reading MRI results, pointing to a clear need for more expert readers to interpret the findings. He predicts that use of both MRI and ultrasound will become the standard of care nationally for prostate biopsy. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.