Preoperative Prostate MRI: A Road Map for Surgery

Abstract

Objective: MRI of the prostate is widely used in prostate cancer for local staging. The purpose of this article is to show how preoperative prostate MRI findings may be used as a road map for surgery to preserve the neurovascular bundle, identify risk factors associated with positive surgical margins, and evaluate findings associated with intraoperative complications and functional recovery after surgery.

Conclusion: Knowledge of surgically relevant imaging findings can increase radiologists' confidence in reporting them to our colleagues.

Keywords: MRI; intraoperative complications; postoperative complications; prostatectomy; prostatic neoplasms; recurrence; risk factors.