Can MRI diagnosis of prostate cancer lead to misdiagnosis?

A new method for diagnosing prostate cancer is being tested on a large scale in a certain country. It uses a multi-parameter MRI scan to obtain accurate and detailed images, making it easier to identify prostate cancer. This method can also predict the size of the tumor and its degree of harm. The trial aims to test whether the use of advanced MRI scans can identify the patient's exact symptoms without performing a painful biopsy that has side effects on the body. So can MRI diagnosis of prostate cancer lead to misdiagnosis?

In recent years, patients suspected of prostate cancer have undergone blood tests to detect whether the concentration of prostate-specific antigen exceeds the standard. If it exceeds the standard, a transrectal ultrasound biopsy is performed. This process uses ultrasound detection under local anesthesia to penetrate the rectal wall and enter the prostate to extract the sample to be analyzed.

However, a medical staff member of a local general hospital admitted: "Using ultrasound to diagnose diseases may miss some cancers or cause overdiagnosis and lead to unnecessary surgery, so this diagnostic method is not accurate and reliable. However, the use of the latest multi-parameter magnetic resonance imaging technology can perform accurate and detailed scans, making it easier to identify whether a patient has cancer and predict the exact size, location and degree of harm of the tumor."

Recently, many men with elevated PSA levels or who experience sudden discomfort in the prostate have been advised to undergo a biopsy. However, most do not have cancer at all, but rather have elevated PSA levels due to other conditions such as prostate enlargement.

Experts say biopsies can miss some cancers and even misdiagnose others, leading to unnecessary treatment. "You could miss other cancers in the prostate where the needle can't reach, or you could perform unnecessary surgery to remove a slow-growing or even harmless tumor," he said.

He recently collaborated with colleagues from nine other hospitals across the UK to diagnose 700 suspected prostate cancer patients for a study that will end in October 2015. He said: If the study shows that multi-parameter MRI scans can accurately identify whether a patient has prostate cancer, it will be a technological revolution in the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

This means taking an aggressive approach to scanning, diagnosing patients' detailed conditions and providing treatment in the early stages of cancer, without the need for a biopsy, so that more patients can benefit.