Prostate biopsy approach and complication rates

Prostate biopsy is the gold standard to confirm prostate cancer. In addition to standard 12-core biopsies, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided prostate biopsies have recently been introduced to improve the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer. The present study aimed to compare the complications after standard transrectal ultrasound-guided and standard plus targeted (MRI-guided) prostate biopsies, to study the impact of the number of biopsy cores on complication rates, and to compare complication rates after transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsies with those following transperineal prostate biopsies from the literature. A prospective study was performed, which included 135 patients who underwent transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsies between April 1 and June 30, 2022, at the Urology Department of the University Hospital of Pointe à Pitre (Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe). A total of 51 patients were excluded because of missing information concerning their post-biopsy surveillance. The median age at the time of biopsy was 69 years, median prostate-specific antigen value was 8.9 ng/ml, median prostate volume was 57.5 ml, and median number of cores was 15. A total of 35 of the 84 included patients (41.7%) had a standard biopsy only and 49 (58.3%) had targeted (MRI-guided) plus standard biopsies. A total of 53 patients (63.1%) experienced early side effects, whereas only 24 patients (28.6%) experienced late side effects. Three patients (3.6%) required hospitalization for post-biopsy complications. Early side effects, especially hematuria and hematospermia, occurred significantly more frequently in the targeted plus standard group, with more cores taken, with no significant difference concerning late side effects or infectious complications between the standard and standard plus targeted groups. The admission rate for sepsis after transperineal biopsy has been reported to vary between 0 and 1%, whereas the present study had an admission rate of 2.29% using the transrectal approach. Further studies are required to analyze the complications requiring hospitalization after transrectal and transperineal biopsies.