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Using an MRI scan to help diagnose prostate cancer could spare some men from unnecessary invasive biopsies, according to a new study. The technique could also help spot the difference between aggressive prostate cancers and tumours that would never cause any harm during a man’s lifetime, avoiding so-called ‘overdiagnosis’. If these differences can’t be detected then some patients may receive unnecessary treatment and experience side effects. According to lead author Dr Hashim Ahmed, from University College London Hospitals, such mistaken diagnoses are due to the fact that traditional tissue samples (biopsies) are often unable to distinguish between harmless and aggressive cancers. “Our current biopsy test can be inaccurate because the tissue samples are taken at random,” said Ahmed. “This means it cannot confirm whether a cancer is aggressive or not and can miss aggressive cancers that are actually there.”

See original article at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-us/cancer-news/news-report/2017-01-23-mri-scans-for-suspected-prostate-cancer-could-improve-diagnosis