Multiparametric MRI before and after Focal Therapy for Prostate Cancer: Pearls and Pitfalls for the Reporting...

In this era of personalized precision medicine, the accuracy of multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) and targeted biopsy in helping detect low-volume clinically significant prostate cancer has rekindled interest in focal therapy for primary prostate cancer. Such therapy may reduce the debilitating morbidity of radical whole-gland treatment. Post-focal therapy mpMRI surveillance is critical for assessing oncologic efficacy. Radiologists interpreting post-focal therapy mpMRI must be familiar with expected posttreatment changes and pitfalls in assessing posttreatment recurrence. In this review, the authors present their experience with mpMRI before and after focal therapy. While cryotherapy and irreversible electroporation are the primary modalities of focal therapy offered in their institution, the authors aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the more common focal therapy modalities in use. Pertinent considerations of mpMRI in pretreatment patient selection and treatment planning are discussed. The recently proposed standardized post-focal therapy assessment systems, Prostate Imaging after Focal Ablation (ie, PI-FAB) and Transatlantic Recommendations for Prostate Gland Evaluation with MRI after Focal Therapy (ie, TARGET), as well as pearls and pitfalls in the detection of tumor recurrence and medium- and long-term mpMRI surveillance of the post-focal therapy prostate, are also discussed. This review aims to provide a valuable reference for radiologists involved in the care of patients in the evolving field of prostate cancer focal therapy. Keywords: MR Imaging, Urinary, Prostate, Neoplasms-Primary, Focal Therapy, Prostate Cancer, MRI, Surveillance, Tumor Recurrence Published under a CC BY 4.0 license.