Family History and Hereditary Prostate Cancer: Genetic Risk and Screening Implications
A family history of prostate cancer can substantially increase a man’s probability of developing the disease, particularly when a father, brother or son was affected, several relatives have prostate cancer, or diagnoses occurred at younger ages. Some families carry inherited pathogenic variants such as BRCA2, HOXB13, ATM or mismatch-repair genes, but most men with a […]
BRCA1, BRCA2 and Prostate Cancer: Genetic Risk, Aggressiveness and Screening
Pathogenic BRCA2 variants substantially increase prostate cancer risk and are associated with a greater likelihood of clinically significant or aggressive disease; BRCA1 is also associated with prostate cancer, but the relationship is weaker and less consistent. BRCA1 and BRCA2 normally help cells repair damaged DNA. When a harmful variant is inherited, one layer of that […]
Vasectomy and Prostate Cancer Risk: What the Evidence Shows
Current evidence does not establish that vasectomy causes prostate cancer. Several large observational studies and meta-analyses have reported a very small statistical association—often around a 5% to 10% relative increase in diagnosed prostate cancer—but that signal becomes weaker as study quality improves and is concentrated mainly in localized disease. Importantly, the best-adjusted analyses have not […]
Testosterone, TRT and Prostate Cancer Risk: Current Evidence and Clinical Context
Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) has not been shown to increase the incidence of prostate cancer when it is used to restore testosterone to physiological levels in appropriately evaluated men with hypogonadism. That does not mean testosterone is irrelevant to prostate cancer. Prostate cells—including many prostate-cancer cells—respond to androgen signaling, which is why lowering testosterone with […]
How Is Prostate Cancer Diagnosed? PSA, DRE, MRI, Biopsy and Pathology
Prostate cancer is usually diagnosed through a sequence of evidence rather than one test: clinical risk and PSA raise or lower suspicion, prostate MRI maps suspicious tissue, a needle biopsy obtains tissue, and a pathologist determines whether cancer is actually present. PSA, digital rectal examination (DRE) and MRI can all identify men who may need […]
What Is a Prostate MRI? How MRI Detects and Characterizes Suspicious Lesions
Prostate Imaging • MRI Definition and Interpretation A prostate MRI is a noninvasive magnetic-resonance examination that creates detailed images of the prostate and surrounding pelvic structures so radiologists can identify, locate and characterize tissue suspicious for clinically significant prostate cancer. It uses a strong magnetic field and radiofrequency energy rather than X-rays. MRI can estimate […]
What Is Multiparametric Prostate MRI (mpMRI)? T2, Diffusion, Contrast and Cancer Detection
Multiparametric prostate MRI (mpMRI) is a prostate MRI protocol that combines anatomical imaging with multiple measurements of tissue behavior—principally T2-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging with ADC maps, and dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging—to detect, localize and characterize tissue suspicious for clinically significant prostate cancer. The sequences are interpreted together because each answers a different question: T2 shows anatomy, […]
What Is PI-RADS? How Prostate MRI Lesions Are Scored From 1 to 5
Radiology Classification • Prostate MRI PI-RADS is a standardized 1-to-5 scoring system used by radiologists to describe how likely a prostate MRI lesion is to represent clinically significant prostate cancer. A higher score means greater imaging suspicion: PI-RADS 1 is very low suspicion, PI-RADS 3 is equivocal, and PI-RADS 5 is very high suspicion. The […]
What Is a Prostate Nodule? DRE Findings, Causes and Cancer Evaluation
A prostate nodule is a localized area of the prostate that feels or appears different from the surrounding gland. It may be discovered as a firm, hard or irregular area during a digital rectal examination (DRE), or a focal abnormality may later be identified on ultrasound or MRI. A nodule can be associated with prostate […]
What Is a Prostate Lesion? MRI Findings, PI-RADS and Cancer Risk
A prostate lesion is a localized area of prostate tissue that looks different from the surrounding gland on imaging. On prostate MRI, a lesion may differ in shape, signal intensity, diffusion behavior, enhancement or relationship to normal prostate anatomy. Some lesions are prostate cancer, but many are not. Benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostatitis, fibrosis, hemorrhage, cysts, […]