Relationship between non-suspicious MRI and insignificant prostate cancer: results from a monocentric study

To assess whether non-suspicious multiparametric magnetic-resonance imaging (mpMRI) was associated with no cancer or indolent prostate cancer (PCa) in subsequent biopsies.

Retrospective analyses of a prospective database were conducted between 2009 and 2013. It included men with an abnormal digital rectal examination and/or prostate-specific antigen levels <20 ng/mL and a non-suspicious multiparametric MRI (Likert score <3). Participants underwent a systematic 12-extended-core biopsy ultrasound protocol (STD). Indolent PCa was defined as a single core with a Gleason score of 6 (3 + 3) and a cancer-core length of ≤4 mm.

Seventy-eight patients with a negative MRI were included in the study; median patient age was 62 years (IQR 50-74). Median PSA level was 7.15 ng/mL, with a median PSA density of 0.15. The digital rectal examination was abnormal in eight cases. From MRI, 53 patients were Likert 2, 25 patients were Likert 1, and median prostate volume was 56.5 mL. From biopsies, no cancer was found in 92.3 % (n = 72). PCa was histologically confirmed in six patients (7.7 %): five cases were indolent (as defined above); only one patient had a cancer core of 5 mm long, with a Gleason score of 6 (3 + 3). All six patients were within the low-risk group according to the D'Amico classification.

Men with non-suspicious mpMRI are likely to have no or indolent PCa in subsequent biopsies.