Prostate Biopsy Research Paper

Prostate biopsy is essentially a test which hopes to detect cancer of the prostate in patients who have specific indications or causes for suspicion. The most commonly performed biopsy is the TRUS biopsy, which is the transrectal ultrasound-directed systematic sampling of the prostate.

Main advantages of prostate biopsy
The TRUS biopsy is definitely more reliable than the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. The ultrasound guidance helps to ensure that the samples are taken from within the prostate, which will then be further sent to a specialized laboratory for testing in order to determine either the presence or the absence of prostate cancer
Although the ultrasound images cannot visualize the tumors themselves, the usage of advanced multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) fused with TRUS biopsy has raised hopes of being able to take targeted biopsies from lesions themselves, with clinical significance for the patient.
Main reason is that the samples are essentially taken blindly due to the unknown location of the tumor. However, the standard systematic biopsy which takes 12 tissue cores from the prostate picks up only about half of all tumor foci, with a sensitivity of only 53%.
The false-negative rate and the dependence upon blind sampling means that if the original symptoms persist, or the PSA level remains high or rises, a repeat biopsy is required. Repeat biopsies are now often recommended to be performed under MRI guidance (using multiparametric MRI) alone, or in combination with ultrasound. The transperineal route of biopsy is also shown to increase the accuracy of detection of cancers of the prostate, especially from the anterior and transitional