New Corewell Health research suggests an MRI scan can help predict whether patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer (cancer confined to the entire prostate) may have more aggressive cancer in five years.
Knowing this could potentially help doctors determine if treatment is needed up front vs. using a method called active surveillance where the disease is closely monitored over time. The study, recently published in the Journal of Urology, is of the first to evaluate this risk group.
In the study, about 1,500 low- and intermediate-risk patients across Michigan were examined to determine if individuals with suspicious findings on an MRI test returned with a more advanced stage of the disease within five years. Here’s what the study found:
- Overall, 36% of the study participants who were watching their prostate cancer demonstrated more aggressive disease within five years.
- Considering traditional risk factors and using an MRI classification system that rates lesion suspicion, patients with high-risk imaging features were approximately 130% more likely to have more aggressive disease on follow-up than those with low-risk imaging results.
- Suspicious lesions on an MRI indicated more than twice the risk of progressive disease in both low-risk and intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients, which has not been previously shown in the intermediate-risk patients.
