Novel Prostate Cancer Screening Technique Revealed

A team of scientists and physicians at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, (UCSD; San Diego, CA, USA), and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA; Los Angeles, CA, USA) have described a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technique for detection of prostate tumors in men. Prostate cancer was the second main cause of death from cancer in men, and was the most prevalent newly diagnosed cancer in men in 2014.

The proof of principle study was reported in the January 6, 2015, issue of Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Disease. The study used a new enhanced MRI diffusion technique with Restriction Spectrum Imaging MRI (RSI-MRI) to detect extraprostatic extension in 27 patients, and compared this with standard MRI evaluation.

Results show that standard MRI identified extraprostatic extension correctly in only two out of nine patients, compared to the RSI-MRI technique which correctly identified extraprostatic extension in eight of nine patients.

The research team concluded that the RSI-MRI technique could considerably improve prostate cancer imaging results and the treatment of prostate cancer patients, but that further translational studies were necessary.

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