Men would be willing to pay up to $2,000 of their own money to get a more accurate test to detect — or rule out — prostate cancer. This was the outcome of a study that examined how men viewed a technique that — although available — is rarely covered by health insurance plans. The research, “Examining patient’s willingness-to-pay for MRI guided prostate biopsy: Implications in the era of health savings accounts,” was published in the journal Urology Practice. It was a collaborative effort of Loyola Medicine and Loyola University Chicago's Quinlan School of Business and Stritch School of Medicine. MR-US prostate biopsy is the name of the pricey method. It combines advanced imaging with a traditional prostate biopsy. Physicians first do a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the prostate. The images are fused with ultrasound images to create a three-dimensional view of the prostate. A physician uses the 3D view doing a biopsy to guide a biopsy needle to suspicious-looking lesions. A standard biopsy involves a physician taking 12 samples across the prostate. If a tumor is not in the areas, it's likely to be missed. Although the imaging-biopsy combo procedure is more accurate, it is not always covered by insurance. And it costs between $700 and $1,570 more than a standard biopsy, depending on the clinic. To understand how men view the combo technique, and what they would be willing to pay for it, a research team surveyed 202 men at a urology clinic. They asked the men to imagine that they needed a prostate cancer biopsy, and had $2,000 in a health savings account. In the United States, people with high-deductible insurance plans can open such an account. It works like a normal savings account, but savings are tax-deductible.