Impact of Magnetic Resonance Imaging on Prostate Cancer Staging and European Association of Urology Risk Classification

Abstract

To investigate the impact of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) information on clinical staging, risk stratification, and treatment recommendations for prostate cancer (PCa) according to the European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines. We performed a single-center analysis of 180 men with PCa, undergoing clinical staging by digital rectal examination (DRE) as well as MRI before their robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. Patients were stratified according to the EAU guidelines into 4 well-defined risk categories, based on their clinical T-stage assessed by either DRE or MRI. Descriptive statistics of categorical variables are shown as frequencies and proportions. Differences between both scenarios (DRE- vs MRI-staged) were analyzed using a paired-samples sign test. Use of MRI information instead of DRE information leads to significant upstaging of clinical T-stage (33%) and EAU risk grouping (31%). When comparing these results with the pathologic T-stage, MRI showed a higher sensitivity than DRE to detect nonorgan-confined PCa (59% vs 41%; P <.01). In contrast, the specificity of MRI was lower than DRE (69% vs 95%; P <.01). Incorporation of MRI-based instead of DRE-based staging in the treatment decision process would alter the surgical treatment strategy in 49/180 patients (27%). The incorporation of MRI information substantially affects the treatment choice in PCa patients as compared to using the current available EAU guidelines based on DRE information. More specifically, treatment intensification would be recommended in 1 out of 4 patients.