MRI-based models can help reduce unnecessary biopsies in suspected prostate cancer patients

Mar 7 2018

In a collaborative, multi-institutional study published by JAMA Oncology, researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Chicago, and National Cancer Institute determined that MRI-based prediction models can help reduce unnecessary biopsies in suspected prostate cancer patients and help improve personalized risk stratification.

The evidence in the study concluded that, while inclusion of MRI use as a biomarker can decrease unnecessary biopsies, it also helps maintain a high rate of diagnosis of clinically significant prostate cancers.

According to the research, the MRI-based model had a lower false-positive rate than the baseline model, and its use could result in performing 18 fewer unnecessary biopsies per 100 men.

"This research will help us optimize patient selection, determine risk-stratification more accurately and even reduce associated morbidity as it relates to prostate cancer diagnosis," said Soroush Rais-Bahrami, M.D., assistant professor of in UAB's Department of Urology, associate scientist in UAB's Comprehensive Cancer Center, and co-author of the study. "Additionally, this imaging biomarker will enable physicians to provide an even more individualized approach to patient care by way of more efficient and accurate prostate cancer detection moving forward."