Researchers develop ultrasound method to detect prostate cancer

When men reach a certain age, it is recommended to have their prostate checked from time to time. This is so that doctors can try to detect potential prostate cancers. The initial checkup cannot tell the whole story, so sometimes to get a more accurate and complete diagnosis, patients need to have an MRI.

MRIs can be expensive and time-consuming, not to mention a bit daunting, but maybe this won’t be necessary in the future. This is thanks to researchers in the United Kingdom who have developed a new method, published in Lancet Oncology, which uses ultrasound, the accuracy of which is comparable to that of an MRI.

This means that clinicians may be able to quickly test patients for potential prostate cancer without having to take a patient through an MRI machine. According to Hashim Ahmed, the study’s lead author, having an alternative and accurate way to test for prostate cancer is a good thing.

“While effective, these scans are expensive, take up to 40 minutes to perform, and are not readily available to everyone. As cancer waiting lists pile up in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a real need to find better and cheaper tests to diagnose prostate cancer.

Based on their testing so far, the ultrasound method has detected only 4.3% fewer cases compared to MRI, but it has also been successful in detecting more clinically significant cases than MRI. missed. We don’t know when this method should be put into rotation, but it’s good to see progress being made.

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