BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - The management of prostate cancer has been revolutionised in recent years by the availability of new methods to detect and target cancer lesions.
One of these methods is MR-guided biopsy (MRGB), which has revealed promising detection rates after previous negative transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy (TRUS GB) sessions.
Despite its low sensitivity (52% false negative rate), random TRUS-GB is currently the universally accepted method of confirming prostate cancer. Repeat negative biopsies represent an additional clinical problem faced by urologists.
The role of MRI has evolved over the past decade with development of newer techniques to localize stage and obtain functional information about the tumor. Currently, prostate MR imaging is the most widely used cross-sectional imaging technique for prostate cancer.
Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has demonstrated a higher sensitivity for detecting prostate cancer than digital rectal exam (DRE) and transrectal ultrasound in patients having an elevated PSA value and a negative TRUS GB. In addition, studies have demonstrated that MR imaging can be used to target and guide biopsies of suspicious areas seen on a comprehensive diagnostic MR exam.
This review will give an overview on the pre-biopsy planning and how to perform MRGB of the prostate.
Written by:
Sadhna Verma, MD, et al. as part of Beyond the Abstract on UroToday.com. This initiative offers a method of publishing for the professional urology community. Authors are given an opportunity to expand on the circumstances, limitations etc... of their research by referencing the published abstract.