Combining magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing allows clinicians to detect twice as many clinically significant prostate cancers than PSA testing alone, according to study results published in JAMA Oncology.
In a study of 2,034 men, researchers assigned 408 to receive standard PSA testing plus screening MRI and ultrasonography while the remainder had standard PSA testing alone. They found that MRI helped clinicians detect twice as many cancers as the other two screening modalities: PSA testing identified 7 clinically significant cancers, whereas MRI found 14 and ultrasonography found 9.
“This study suggests that when screening the general population for prostate cancer, MRI might lead to more men being diagnosed with clinically significant cancer, without increasing the number of men advised to undergo biopsy or overdiagnosed with clinically insignificant cancer,” the researchers concluded.
Learn more about the prevention, detection, and the science of cancer—and earn 11.05 NCPD contact hours—through ONS’s course for oncology RNs.