Andrew Vickers, PhD, attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses improving MRI testing for patients with prostate cancer. 

A challenge that remains is to improve MRI testing even further, says Vickers. If it can improved it to the level of which it has a high and consistent negative value then it could be used in routine care. 

Risk stratification before MRI is another idea that is being investigated, states Vickers.   

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Andrew Vickers, PhD, attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses improving MRI testing for patients with prostate cancer.

Expert Discusses Improving MRI Testing for Prostate Cancer

Andrew Vickers, PhD, attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the clinical value of MRI testing in prostate cancer.

Vickers says that, as of now, the most valuable clinical benefit of MRI is to find the cancers that TRUS biopsies miss. More of these clinically significant cancers are found with MRI, though the long-term effects of these cancers are still largely unkown.

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The Clinical Value of MRI Testing in Prostate Cancer

Andrew Vickers, PhD, attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the future of MRI in prostate cancer.

Vickers says that steps should be taken to improve MRI so that it can be a tool that provides a high and consistent negative predictive value.

Another idea being discussed in the space is risk stratification prior to MRI, Vickers adds.

The Future of MRI in Prostate Cancer

Andrew Vickers, PhD, attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses some potential uses of MRI testing for patients with prostate cancer. 

According to Vickers, there are 3 main ways to use MRI's for patients. The first is to improve the specificity of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. A second way is to improve the sensitivity of biopsy which can help find the missed clinically significant lesions. The third possible way to use an MRI is in the repeat biopsy setting. 

Andrew Vickers, PhD, attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses some potential uses of MRI testing for patients with prostate cancer.

Uses of MRI Testing in Prostate Cancer

Andrew Vickers, PhD, attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center discusses studies of the controversial prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test for patients with prostate cancer.

Going back to Swedish data, it has been determined that a midlife PSA test is strongly predictive of long-term risk of aggressive prostate cancer, but a PSA test is not a beneficial test for prostate cancer, explains Vickers.

Studies have also tried to determine how much getting a PSA test advances the time of when a patient has cancer compared to when they show up to the clinic and are diagnosed.

Andrew Vickers, PhD

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