A superior tool for the detection and assessment of prostate cancer.
September is prostate cancer awareness month, and we’re pleased to announce that we have a new tool for men to use in the early detection and characterization of prostate cancer.
When prostate cancer is suspected, a prostate biopsy may be recommended. This is often performed using transrectal ultrasound. Unfortunately, many prostate biopsies come back falsely negative, which means the patient actually does have prostate cancer even though he was told that the biopsy did not find any cancer.
Why is this? Because the biopsy process can only sample a small portion of the prostate gland, and quite often misses the section of it where cancer may be present. In fact, studies show that biopsies miss about 20% of all malignancies and generally underestimate the disease. Because of this, prostate cancer continues to be a leading cause of death in men, equivalent in death rate and financial impact to breast cancer in women.
However, a new MRI-based test available at POM MRI may be a better option.
Multi-Parametric Prostate MRI (mpMRI) is a new tool for you and your doctor designed to provide better detection and assessment of suspected prostate cancer. This test can help you to better understand your risk, and help contribute to more targeted and effective treatment of the disease.
mpMRI allows doctors to better visualize the entire prostate gland. This can help to rule out the need for a biopsy, or if one is needed, it can ensure that biopsies are taken from the most suspicious areas—and not just randomly. The test is safe, accurate and painless, and has been shown to identify cancer in more than 50% of men whose initial biopsy was negative.
mpMRI at POM MRI
mpMRI is a cutting-edge imaging technology used in the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer. When performed by our trained technologists and interpreted by our experienced radiologists, mpMRI can provide a safe, effective, non-invasive and painless means of detecting, observing and staging prostate cancer.
mpMRI is typically recommended for:
- Patients at high risk for prostate cancer
- Patients with suspected prostate cancer (elevated PSA with or without a negative biopsy)
- Patients with biopsy-proven prostate cancer
Using mpMRI prior to Transrectal Ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy can reduce the need for multiple or repeat biopsies by identifying suspicious areas for your doctor to evaluate, resulting in less pain, sexual side effects, expense and inconvenience. Please talk to your urologist or call us to find out if mpMRI is right for you.