Black and Hispanic men less likely to get helpful MRI before prostate cancer surgery

Preoperative MRI leads to better outcomes after prostate cancer surgery, but Black and Hispanic men are less likely than White men to receive it, according to a new study led by Alexander Cole, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Cole and his colleagues analyzed the medical records of more than 19,000 men, average age of 70, who underwent surgery between 2004 and 2015. Men who received an MRI scan before surgery were less likely to have cancerous cells left behind and less likely to need blood transfusions.

• See “Are all men benefiting from preop MRI for prostate cancer surgery?” by Kate Madden Yee on the Aunt Minnie website (June 17, 2022)
• See the abstract of the scientific paper “Geographic Variability, Time Trends and Association of Preoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging with Surgical Outcomes for Elderly United States Men with Prostate Cancer: A Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare Analysis” by Alexander P Cole et al.