University of Chicago researchers provided solid evidence that hybrid multidimensional MRI (HM-MRI) might be superior to multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) for diagnosing clinically significant prostate cancer.
That’s a big statement after nearly two decades of prostate MRI exams, but mpMRI’s continued variability challenges still leave room for improvement, and some believe HM-MRI’s quantitative approach could help add objectivity.
To test that theory, the researchers had four radiologists with different career experience (1 to 20yrs) interpret HM-MRI and mpMRI exams from 61 men with biopsy-confirmed prostate cancer, finding that the HM-MRI exams produced:
- Higher AUCs among three of the four readers (0.61 vs. 0.66; 0.71 vs. 0.60; 0.59 vs. 0.50; 0.64 vs. 0.46), with the least experienced rad achieving the greatest AUC improvement
- Higher specificity among all four readers (48% vs. 37%; 78% vs. 26%; 48% vs. 0%; 46% vs. 7%)
- Significantly greater interobserver agreement rates (Cronbach alpha: 0.88 vs. 0.26; >0.60 indicates reliability)
- Far shorter average interpretation times (73 vs. 254 seconds)
The Takeaway
As the study’s editorial put it, HM-MRI appears to be a “quantitative step in the right direction” for prostate MRI, and has the potential to address mpMRI’s variability, accuracy, and efficiency challenges.
