Anterior fibromuscular band tumors: from an unknown zone to a potential common cancer location

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the eight cause of death by cancer worldwide. In particularly, anterior prostate cancers are frequently missed since they can be neither palpable nor tangible on physical examination. Furthermore, traditional TRUS-guided prostate biopsy accomplishes poorly in their diagnosis because anterior prostate cancers, including anterior fibromuscular stroma cancers, are not normally sampled. Consequently, these tumors are often diagnosed after recurrent negative biopsies, being larger at diagnosis, carrying a higher risk for the patient.

The main objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of multi-parametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging in diagnosis of anterior fibromuscular cancers, describing the normal zonal anatomy and the typical tumors behave patterns at this location.
In conclusion, MRI should perform a significant role in more precise lesion localization, particularly in the diagnosis of anterior prostate cancer. Prebiopsy MRI with an ADC map should be performed to avoid missing clinically significant cancer in the anterior gland, a problem inherent in the use of TRUS-guided biopsy.