MRI Predicts Prostate Cancer Prognosis

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Prostate cancer patients may have a new way to find out whether they need radiation therapy.

A new study from the University of California, San Francisco finds magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients who are about to have radiation treatment for prostate cancer can help predict the chances of the cancer returning and spreading after the therapy.

“This is the first study to show that MRI detection and measurement of the spread of prostate cancer outside the capsule of the prostate is an important factor in determining outcome for men scheduled to undergo radiation therapy,” study co-author Fergus V. Coakley, M.D., from the University of California, San Francisco, was quoted as saying.

Researchers reviewed the MR images of 80 men with prostate cancer who had an MRI of the prostate before radiation therapy. They recorded details of the tumor’s characteristics, treatment and outcome.

The study determined that the presence and degree of extracapsular extension -- the spread of cancer beyond the membrane that surrounds the prostate gland -- seen on the pre-treatment MR images was an important predictor of the cancer recurring and spreading after the treatment. Specifically, results show patients with extracapsular extension greater than five millimeters -- about the diameter of a pencil eraser -- were more likely to have the cancer come back and spread.

The authors suggest patients with a significant amount of extracapsular spread of prostate cancer should discuss their options for more aggressive therapy with their doctors.

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SOURCE: Radiology, 2008;247