MRI-Guided Biopsy Boosts Prostate Cancer Detection

Targeted prostate biopsy with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tripled the cancer yield compared with conventional systematic biopsies, investigators reported.

MRI-targeted lesions contained biopsy-proven prostate cancer 21% of the time, whereas systematic biopsy detected cancer just 7% of the time.

In the subgroup of men with Gleason grade 7 or greater, almost 40% had cancer that was identified only by targeted biopsy. Moreover, 15 of 16 men with high-suspicion lesions on MRI proved to have prostate cancer, including seven men with Gleason grade ≥7 cancer, as reported online in the Journal of Urology.

The technique, which fuses MRI images with ultrasound, could revolutionize prostate cancer detection and supplant ultrasound-guided biopsies, which have been the standard of care for 25 years, according to Leonard S. Marks, MD.

Continue reading... [1]