Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind only lung cancer. Prostate cancer awareness is essential for prevention, early detection and timely treatment. Prostate MRI is one of the most advanced techniques available to screen and stage prostate cancer.

Prostate MRI is considered by many medical experts to be the most advanced method available to screen and stage prostate cancer. Although a Prostate MRI imaging study is not appropriate for all men, if you or a loved one are concerned about the risk of developing prostate cancer we encourage you to talk to your doctor about MRI prostate cancer screening and staging.

Please visit the RadNet Prostate MRI Program website for more information.

If your physician feels a nodule during a routine exam, or if you have trouble urinating, a transrectal ultrasound may be ordered. Ultrasound is a non-invasive procedure that uses sound waves to image the structure and movement of the body’s internal organs, as well as blood flowing through blood vessels, in real-time.

A man’s prostate gland and surrounding tissue are examined via insertion of an ultrasound probe into the patient’s rectum. There are no harmful effects, and it gives a clearer picture of soft tissues than X-ray images.

Treatment for prostate cancer can involve image-guided radiation therapy. In some advanced treatments, daily image guidance is increasingly used to improve the setup due to organ movement. Since the prostate position varies day-to-day depending on bladder and rectal filling, the prostate position must be localized and verified prior to each treatment.

In one method, several fiducial markers, or tiny pieces of biologically inert metal such as gold, are placed in the prostate gland before the simulation. Digital X-ray images are taken which localize the metallic markers to check the position of the prostate on a daily basis just before the treatment, and the prostate is appropriately adjusted and aligned to the planned high-dose radiation treatment field.

Another method involves using ultrasound to localize the prostate before each treatment. The patient is asked to keep his bladder full as much as possible in order to produce a good ultrasound image, and also to displace the bladder mucosa out of the radiation treatment field.

A third method involves the use of a low-dose computed tomography (CT) scan of the prostate area in the treatment couch right before each treatment to verify prostate position. Depending on your case and available technology at your treatment center, your physician will inform you of the type of image-guided radiation therapy you will receive.

– excerpted from radiologyinfo.org.