MRI for troubleshooting detection of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy in males. Men aged 50 and older are recommended to undergo an annual digital rectal examination (DRE) and determination of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in serum for early detection. However, prostate biopsies guided by transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) come up negative for cancer in many patients despite having PSA levels above 4ng/ml. T2-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is able to represent the prostate including the surrounding anatomy and depict suspicious areas of low intensity within a high-intensity peripheral zone. MRI has a higher sensitivity for detecting prostate carcinomas than DRE and TRUS in patients having an elevated PSA value and a negative core biopsy. However, its specificity is poor since other abnormalities such as prostatic intraepilthelial neoplasia (PIN), prostatitis, scars, or haemmorrhage have a similar MRI appearance. The use of additional techniques such as MR spectroscopy and contrast-enhanced dynamic MRI improves sensitivity, but in particular it improves the specificity of tumor detection. Newly developed biopsy devices enable the performance of targeted biopsies in areas that appear suspicious in the MRI.