Netherlands: Prostate MRI and AI in Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

There is increased use of prostate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. A recent study published in the journal European Urology Focus found that MRI resources can be managed by risk stratification of patients before imaging and the use of shorter scan protocols. Also, artificial intelligence (AI) can play an important role in automating some tasks.

"AI applications hold potential for improving the diagnostic quality of the prostate MRI pathways and accelerate the work," Maarten de Rooij, Department of Medical Imaging, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and the team wrote.

MRI has transformed the pathway for the diagnosis of prostate cancer and plays an upfront role before prostate biopsies. On discovering a suspicious lesion on MRI, the subsequent biopsy can be targeted. The number of men who will undergo prostate MRI is expected to increase sharply.

The challenge is to provide good image quality and diagnostic accuracy while meeting the demands of the expected higher workload. This can be solved by including a suitable risk stratification tool before imaging. There is a need for exploring other solutions, such as smarter and shorter MRI protocols.

"For most of these solutions, artificial intelligence (AI) can play an important role," wrote the authors. "AI applications have the potential to improve the diagnostic quality of the prostate MRI pathway and speed up the work. However, there is a need for clinical validation of these tools before their potential can be fully exploited," they concluded.

"The expected rise in the number of prostate MRIs requires solutions that come from different directions. A suitable risk stratification tool (e.g., PCa Screening 2.0) is one such solution, but other solutions such as smarter and shorter MRI protocols also need to be explored," they explained.

"For most of these solutions, AI can play an important role. With this regard, the above-mentioned AI applications have the potential to improve the diagnostic quality of the prostate MRI pathway and speed up the workload. However, there is a need for clinical validation of these tools before their potential can be fully exploited," they concluded.

Reference

The study titled, "Risk Stratification and Artificial Intelligence in Early Magnetic Resonance Imaging–based Detection of Prostate Cancer," was published in the journal European Urology Focus.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euf.2021.11.005