MRI Screening for Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in men. Worldwide, the prevalence of prostate cancer ranks second among male malignant tumors. Although the prevalence of prostate cancer in my country is much lower than that in Europe and the United States, it has shown a significant growth trend in recent years.

MRI for prostate cancer

A new method of prostate cancer diagnosis is being tested on a large scale in the UK. It uses a multi-parameter MRI scan to obtain precise and detailed images, making it easier to identify whether a patient has prostate cancer. At the same time, this method can also predict the size of the tumor and its degree of harm. The trial aims to test whether the use of advanced MRI scans can pinpoint the patient's exact symptoms without performing a painful biopsy that has side effects on the body.

In recent years, patients suspected of prostate cancer have undergone blood tests to detect whether the concentration of prostate-specific antigen exceeds the standard. If it exceeds the standard, a transrectal ultrasound biopsy is performed. This process uses ultrasound detection under local anesthesia to penetrate the rectal wall and enter the prostate to extract the sample to be analyzed.

However, a medical staff member of Southampton General Hospital admitted: "Using ultrasound to diagnose diseases may miss some cancers or cause overdiagnosis and lead to unnecessary surgery, so this diagnostic method is not accurate and reliable. However, the use of the latest multi-parameter magnetic resonance imaging technology can perform accurate and detailed scans, making it easier to identify whether a patient has cancer and predict the exact size, location and degree of harm of the tumor."

Recently, many men with elevated PSA levels or who experience sudden discomfort in the prostate have been advised to undergo a biopsy. However, most do not have cancer at all, but rather have elevated PSA levels due to other conditions such as prostate enlargement.

Tim Dudderidge, consultant urologist at Southampton General Hospital, said biopsies could miss some cancers and even misdiagnose others, leading to unnecessary treatment. He said: "You could miss other cancers in the prostate where the needle can't reach, or you could remove the prostate unnecessarily by targeting a slow-growing or even harmless tumour."

He recently teamed up with colleagues from nine other hospitals across the UK to diagnose 700 men suspected of prostate cancer, for a study that will end in October 2015. He said: "If the study shows that multi-parameter MRI scans can accurately identify whether a patient has prostate cancer, it will be a technological revolution in the way prostate cancer is diagnosed.

This means more patients can benefit from aggressive scanning, which can diagnose and treat cancer in its earliest stages without the need for biopsies.”

It is reported that prostate cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, and its target patients are mostly over 50 years old. About 37,000 new cases are diagnosed in the UK each year.

The main manifestations of prostate cancer MRI examination are:

1. Irregular enlargement of the prostate with localized bulges.

2. The high-signal fat band around the prostate on T1-weighted images is broken.

3. On T2-weighted images, the pubococcygeus portion of the levator ani muscle is displaced and fractured.

4. Involvement of the seminal vesicle, bladder, and surrounding lymph nodes.

5. The high signal around the prostate disappears on the second echo of the T2-weighted image.

6. Bone metastases are common in the pelvis, vertebrae, femur and ribs.

7. MRI helps in staging prostate cancer.