Key Points
Question: Is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with targeted biopsy only non-inferior to systematic biopsy for the diagnosis of clinically significant prostate cancer (PCa)?
Findings: In this prospective phase 3 randomized clinical trial of 453 men, clinically significant cancer was found in 35% vs 30% in the MRI and systematic biopsy arms, respectively, which demonstrated noninferiority. A total of 79 participants in the MRI arm (37%) avoided a biopsy, and diagnosis of grade group 1 PCa was reduced by more than 50%.
Meaning: Magnetic resonance imaging with targeted biopsy alone resulted in similar detection rates of clinically significant PCa while avoiding biopsy in more than one-third of men and reducing the diagnosis of clinically insignificant cancer.
Abstract
Importance: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with targeted biopsy is an appealing alternative to systematic 12-core transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) biopsy for prostate cancer diagnosis but has yet to be widely adopted.
Objective: To determine whether MRI with only targeted biopsy was non-inferior to systematic TRUS biopsies in the detection of International Society of Urological Pathology grade group (GG) 2 or greater prostate cancer.
Design, Setting, and Participants: This multicenter, prospective randomized clinical trial was conducted in 5 Canadian academic health sciences centers between January 2017 and November 2019, and data were analyzed between January and March 2020. Participants included biopsy-naive men with a clinical suspicion of prostate cancer who were advised to undergo a prostate biopsy. Clinical suspicion was defined as a 5% or greater chance of GG2 or greater prostate cancer using the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial Risk Calculator, version 2. Additional criteria were serum prostate-specific antigen levels of 20 ng/mL or less (to convert to micrograms per liter, multiply by 1) and no contraindication to MRI.
Interventions: Magnetic resonance imaging–targeted biopsy (MRI-TB) only if a lesion with a Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS), v 2.0, score of 3 or greater was identified vs 12-core systematic TRUS biopsy.
Main Outcome and Measures: The proportion of men with a diagnosis of GG2 or greater cancer. Secondary outcomes included the proportion who received a diagnosis of GG1 prostate cancer; GG3 or greater cancer; no significant cancer but subsequent positive MRI results and/or GG2 or greater cancer detected on a repeated biopsy by 2 years; and adverse events.
Results: The intention-to-treat population comprised 453 patients (367 [81.0%] White, 19 [4.2%] African Canadian, 32 [7.1%] Asian, and 10 [2.2%] Hispanic) who were randomized to undergo TRUS biopsy (226 [49.9%]) or MRI-TB (227 [51.1%]), of which 421 (93.0%) were evaluable per protocol. A lesion with a PI-RADS score of 3 or greater was detected in 138 of 221 men (62.4%) who underwent MRI, with 26 (12.1%), 82 (38.1%), and 30 (14.0%) having maximum PI-RADS scores of 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Eighty-three of 221 men who underwent MRI-TB (37%) had a negative MRI result and avoided biopsy. Cancers GG2 and greater were identified in 67 of 225 men (30%) who underwent TRUS biopsy vs 79 of 227 (35%) allocated to MRI-TB (absolute difference, 5%, 97.5% 1-sided CI, −3.4% to ∞; noninferiority margin, −5%). Adverse events were less common in the MRI-TB arm. Grade group 1 cancer detection was reduced by more than half in the MRI arm (from 22% to 10%; risk difference, −11.6%; 95% CI, −18.2% to −4.9%).
Conclusions and Relevance: Magnetic resonance imaging followed by selected targeted biopsy is non-inferior to initial systematic biopsy in men at risk for prostate cancer in detecting GG2 or greater cancers.
Laurence Klotz, CM, MD1; Joseph Chin, MD2; Peter C. Black, MD3; Antonio Finelli, MD4; Maurice Anidjar, MD5; Franck Bladou, MD1,6; Ashley Machado, MD3; Mark Levental, MD5; Sangeet Ghai, MD4; Sylvia Chang, MD2; Laurent Milot, MD7; Chirag Patel, MD1; Zahra Kassam, MD5; Carolyn Moore, MD8; Veeru Kasivisanathan, MD8; Andrew Loblaw, MD9; Marlene Kebabdjian, BSc1; Craig C. Earle, MD10; Greg R. Pond, PhD11; Masoom A. Haider, MD12
-
Division of Urology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
-
London Health Sciences Centre, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
-
Vancouver Prostate Centre, Department of Urologic Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
-
Princess Margaret Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
-
Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada
-
Universite de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
-
Body and VIR Radiology Department, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hospital Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France
-
University College London, London, England
-
Institute of Healthcare Policy and Management, Department of Radiation Oncology, Ontario Institute of Cancer Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
-
Ontario Institute of Cancer Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
-
Department of Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
-
Toronto General Hospital, Department of Radiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada