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Improving Early Prostate Cancer Detection Through Artificial Intelligence: Evidence from a Systematic Review
by
, , ,
Vincenzo Ciccone
1,
Marina Garofano
2,*,
Rosaria Del Sorbo
2,
Gabriele Mongelli
2,
Mariella Izzo
2,
Francesco Negri
1,
Roberta Buonocore
1,
Francesca Salerno
2,
Rosario Gnazzo
1,
Gaetano Ungaro
2 and
Alessia Bramanti
2 1
Radiology Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria San Giovanni di Dio e Ruggi d’Aragona, 84100 Salerno, Italy
2
Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry, University of Salerno, Via S. Allende, 84081 Baronissi, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Cancers 2025, 17(21), 3503; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17213503 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 14 October 2025
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Revised: 25 October 2025
/
Accepted: 28 October 2025
/
Published: 30 October 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Medical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence in Cancer)
Simple Summary
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting men worldwide. Detecting it early is essential, as treatment is most effective before the disease spreads. Traditional screening methods, such as blood tests and biopsies, can sometimes lead to inaccurate or delayed diagnoses. In recent years, artificial intelligence has shown great promise in helping doctors interpret medical images more precisely and quickly. This study reviewed the available research on how artificial intelligence can improve the early detection of prostate cancer compared with traditional diagnostic methods. The findings suggest that artificial intelligence can match or even surpass the performance of experienced radiologists while saving time and reducing errors. These results highlight the potential of artificial intelligence to make prostate cancer diagnosis faster, more accurate, and more accessible for patients worldwide.
Abstract
Background: Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignancies in men and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Early detection is essential to ensure curative treatment and favorable outcomes, but traditional diagnostic approaches—such as serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, digital rectal examination (DRE), and histopathological confirmation following biopsy—are limited by suboptimal accuracy and variability. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) has improved diagnostic performance but remains highly dependent on reader expertise. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers promising opportunities to enhance diagnostic accuracy, reproducibility, and efficiency in prostate cancer detection. Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and reporting timeliness of AI-based technologies compared with conventional diagnostic methods in the early detection of prostate cancer. Methods: Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched for studies published between January 2015 and April 2025. Eligible designs included randomized controlled trials, cohort, case–control, and pilot studies applying AI-based technologies to early prostate cancer diagnosis. Data on AUC-ROC, sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and time-to-reporting were narratively synthesized due to heterogeneity. Risk of bias was assessed using the QUADAS-AI tool. Results: Twenty-three studies involving 23,270 patients were included. AI-based technologies achieved a median AUC-ROC of 0.88 (range 0.70–0.93), with median sensitivity and specificity of 0.86 and 0.83, respectively. Compared with radiologists, AI or AI-assisted readings improved or matched diagnostic accuracy, reduced inter-reader variability, and decreased reporting time by up to 56%. Conclusions: AI-based technologies show strong diagnostic performance in early prostate cancer detection. However, methodological heterogeneity and limited standardization restrict generalizability. Large-scale prospective trials are required to validate clinical integration.
