Do all patients with suspicious prostate cancer need Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging before prostate...

Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) is a useful tool to diagnose prostate cancer (PCa) but its cost is not negligible. In order to reduce costs and minimize time to diagnosis, it is necessary to establish which patients benefit the most from doing mpMRI prior to prostate biopsy (PB). Our aim was to test if mpMRI still predicts PCa and clinically significant PCa (csPCa) in patients with high clinical suspicion of cancer, defined as prostate specific antigen (PSA) > 10 ng/ml, PSA-Density (PSAD) > 0.15 ng/ml/cc or suspicious digital rectal examination (DRE).

We retrospectively collected data on 206 patients who underwent mpMRI before PB at our Department from January 2017 to July 2018. mpMRI results were classified using Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) version 2. In primary analysis, we evaluated the association of mpMRI with PCa and csPCa and stratified this model for low and high clinical suspicion of cancer. In secondary analysis, we determined the rate of negative PB results in patients with high suspicion of cancer and compared theses rates with those obtained if only those with PI-RADS 3-5 would be biopsied.

In primary analysis and overall, mpMRI was predictive of PCa and csPCa. In stratified analysis, mpMRI was still significantly associated with csPCa in patients with PSA > 10 ng/ml and PSAD > 0.15 ng/ml/cc, but not in those with suspicious DRE. In secondary analysis, negative result rates were lower if only patients with PI-RADS 3-5 were biopsied, even in subgroups with high suspicion of cancer based on PSA and PSAD. In patients with suspicious DRE, however, the rate of negative results did not change significantly if only patients with PI-RADS 3-5 were biopsied.

mpMRI is still useful in predicting csPCa in patients with PSA > 10 ng/mL and PSAD > 0.15 ng/ml/cc. If DRE is suspicious, though, mpMRI might be no longer useful in the prediction of PCa.