MRI advances prostate cancer detection

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MRI advances prostate cancer detectionAAP From:Herald Sun May 02, 2012 12:00AMIncrease Text SizeDecrease Text SizePrintEmailShareMEN will face fewer invasive tests to detect prostate cancer with the help of new MRI technology unveiled at a Brisbane hospital.The advanced screening technology is said to detect prostate cancer with an accuracy rate of 90 per cent.Dr Les , a urologist at The Wesley Hospital, said MRI scans had been used for a long time for prostate cancer but had been unreliable."The prostate is one of the commonest cancers but it's the last radiological frontier," Dr told AAP.The new imaging technology, developed in collaboration with international prostate cancer expert Jelle Barentsz from the Netherlands, would reduce the number of men needing painful and invasive biopsies by two-thirds, Dr said.Currently, tests for prostate cancer involve a blood test to screen for the chemical PSA.Men who have high PSA levels may be required to undergo biopsies where 12 needles are inserted into the prostate to locate the cancer.Dr said the cancer is often missed using this procedure.Meanwhile, not all men who have elevated PSA levels are found to have cancer.Dr said the new MRI technology was capable of taking more accurate pictures to find abnormalities, which could then be targeted by one biopsy needle instead of 12.It would also eliminate the need for men without abnormalities to undergo unnecessary biopsy procedures, he said.The Wesley Hospital hopes to undertake an international trial later this year with Prof Barentsz and the University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, to document the results of the technology.