Dr. Benjamin Pockros on costs of prostate MRI without contrast

In this video, Benjamin Pockros, MD, MBA, discusses the Urology Practice paper “Financial Implications of Prostate MRI Without Contrast.” Pockros is a urology resident at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Transcription:

Please provide an overview of this study and its results.

Our study focuses on prostate MRIs, which have become incredibly popular over the past decade or so. Prostate MRIs are really the gold standard now for both the early detection and surveillance of prostate cancer. The problem is, it's not really a free lunch for patients. The study can take up to an hour. They have to get an IV inserted in them. They have to get contrast media injected into them. And so there's been a lot of work recently seeing if prostate MRIs without contrast are similarly diagnostic. There was recently a trial, the Prime Trial, out of the UK, which showed that the 2 are fairly similar, which is excellent news for men, because maybe they don't need to get an IV, they don't need contrast, and it can be a shorter study. Our study focused on the financial implications of this, and specifically, what are the cost differences? We looked at commercially negotiated prices of prostate MRIs with and without contrast across the US, and we found really 2 important things. Number 1, as we expected, the MRIs with contrast were far more expensive. They were about $1900 and the ones without contrast were about $1300 so about a $700 difference. This is important, not just for total health care savings, but these high costs are often passed on to patients. They often have co-pays and co-deductibles. The take-home point is 1 of another major benefits of doing these prostate MRIs without contrast is potential financial savings for patients with prostate cancer.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.