Approval given for non-invasive MRI scans

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has backed MRI scanners as cost-effective and approved their use for detecting prostate cancer on the NHS.

Having been piloted in three areas across Wales, NICE has backed MRIs as cost-effective and able to detect more cancers, with the Welsh Government revealing that health boards are now preparing for changes ahead of NICE finalising guidelines next year.

Affecting one in nine men in Wales, prostate cancer can be difficult to diagnose and biopsies can be both invasive and painful. Multi-parametric MRIs (mpMRIs) allows specialists a better sight of the prostate to decide whether a biopsy is needed, combining up to three different types of scan for a clearer picture of the prostate.

In newly-published draft guidelines, NICE has recommended that mpMRI scanning should be offered as a first-line investigation for people with suspected clinically localised prostate cancer. This will not be replacing standard first-line tests such as the PSA test and people who are not going to have radical treatment should n­­ot be routinely offered the scan.

However, with campaigners urging for them to be made available across all of Wales, doubts have been raised over whether the NHS has enough MRI machines and radiologists to cater for the roll-out.

Paul Chrisp, director for the Centre for Guidelines said: “We are pleased to announce that we will be recommending multiparametric MRI for patients with prostate cancer. This diagnostic method aims to improve survival, reduce unnecessary biopsies and benefit both patients and the NHS in the long term.”