First trial of MRI technique reduces unneeded prostate biopsies

The first study to compare conventional biopsy with targeted magnetic resonance imaging found that the MRI technique reduced the number of men who required needle biopsy, and improved the overall detection of intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer. The results of the Australian trial were presented last week at the European Association of Urology Annual Congress in Stockholm. The study was also published online in the journal European Urology.

Of 223 men in the study 142 (63.7 percent) had prostate cancer. Conventional needle biopsy guided by transrectal ultrasound detected 126 prostate cancers in 223 men (56.5 percent) including 47 (37.3 percent) that were found to be low-risk tumors. MRI-guided biopsy detected 99 cases of prostate cancer in 142 men (69.7 percent) with intermediate- or high-risk tumors and only 6 (6.1 percent) were later determined to be low-risk tumors, and reduced the need for biopsy by 51 percent.

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