Transcript of Video
I’m Russell Libby with Northwoods Urology of Texas. And today we’re going to be talking about MRI-guided fusion biopsy of the prostate. If you have an elevated PSA or have been previously diagnosed with prostate cancer, you may need a prostate biopsy.
Well, today we have tools that were not once available. MRI fusion-guided biopsy of the prostate is a process by which we get an MRI of the prostate first and then use that information to selectively sample areas of the prostate that may be more at risk for prostate or more significant prostate cancer. What I suggest is that you come to see me in the clinic, we’ll go over what you have and if needed we’ll order an MRI of the prostate.
At that point, we can get a biopsy. Now, not everyone needs an MRI-guided fusion biopsy of the prostate, but if you’ve had prostate cancer and you need a repeat biopsy, this is typically what I would suggest. If you have prostate cancer and you come to see me, I’m likely to recommend an MRI prior to getting another biopsy.
I like to do things in a less invasive to a more invasive fashion. To this tune, I would like to get an MRI first to really get an idea of what the prostate looks like. So what does the MRI actually show us about the prostate? Well, as for breast cancer, where they have a BI-RADS grading system, prostate cancer has a PI-RADS grading system. PI-RADS is a score that’s assigned to different lesions on an MRI of the prostate.
If you have a PI-RADS grade three, that typically suggests that you may or may not have prostate cancer. A grade four PI-RADS score would suggest that you do have clinically significant prostate cancer and a PI-RADS grade five lesion suggests that you almost certainly have significant prostate cancer that needs treatment. What I suggest is that you bring your MRI and the report to me, and we’ll go over the pictures and align them with the report and discuss why you have what lesion you have.
There’ve been many trials that have looked at MRI fusion-guided biopsies of the prostate and it definitely shows that there’s an increased rate of detection of clinically significant prostate cancer as well as reducing the risk of unnecessary biopsies detecting prostate cancer that doesn’t need to be treated.
I’m Russell Libby with Northwoods Urology of Texas. If you have an elevated PSA or prostate cancer, please visit our website or call us at 281-404-3000 and make an appointment with me today.
