Negative MRI after negative MRI guided biopsy indicates nil risk of prostate cancer: Study

California: Repeated biopsy may be avoided in men with negative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) following an initial negative MRI guided biopsy as it is unlikely to harbor significant prostate cancer, reveals a recent study. The study, published in the Journal of Urology, however, found that when lesion are seen on followup MRI, repeat MRI guided biopsy is warranted.

MRI guided biopsy that shows no cancer may provide reassurance beyond that offered by ultrasound guided biopsy. However, followup of men after a negative MRI guided biopsy has been mostly done by prostate specific antigen testing and reports of followup tissue confirmation are few. Leonard S. Marks, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, and colleagues investigated the incidence of clinically significant prostate cancer in such men who, because of persistent cancer suspicion, subsequently underwent a repeat magnetic resonance imaging guided biopsy.

The study included men with a negative initial MRI guided biopsy who underwent at least 1 further MRI guided biopsy due to continued clinical suspicion of clinically significant prostate cancer (September 2009 to July 2019). Biopsies were MRI-ultrasound fusion with targeted and systematic cores. Regions of interest from initial MRI and any new regions of interest at followup magnetic resonance imaging guided biopsy were targeted.