Do I have prostate cancer?

A standard PSA test, a digital rectal exam and follow-up screenings and biopsies can determine yes or no. But the natural follow-up question — How serious is it? — is much harder to answer. That’s why as many as 100,000 American men with low-risk prostate cancer opt to be "better-safe-than-sorry" each year and proceed with surgery, radiation or chemical therapy, instead of active surveillance.

Unfortunately, the side effects of various treatments can be both inconvenient and severe (e.g. incontinence, impotence, discomfort, etc.), based on the individual. That’s why researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI)—funded by $100,000 in donations made to the Institute—are seeking new ways to give patients and physicians better decision-making information with MRI technology.

According to Anurag K. Singh, MD, of the Department of Radiation Medicine, "This research may tell us which patients really will benefit from treatment and which can be watched safely without a high risk of having their disease progress. As a result, many men may avoid the side effects of treatment."

The project, he says, will also enable researchers to advance practical techniques. MRI records will make it possible to compare a series of "snapshots," taken months or years apart, with real-time images, simplifying the task of tracking a cancer’s progress. And MRI-guided tools will dramatically increase the reliability, consistency and accuracy of biopsies performed to confirm diagnoses.