The Efficacy of Target Biopsy of Suspected Cancer Lesions Detected by Magnetic Resonance Imaging and/or Transrectal Ultrasonography during Initial Prostate Biopsies: Comparison of Outcomes between Two Physicians

Background: The efficacy of adding target prostate biopsy (PBx) of suspected cancer lesions identified on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and/or transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) to initial systematic PBx was evaluated. Moreover, the outcomes were compared between 2 physicians.

Methods: We retrospectively investigated 238 patients who underwent first-time PBx in our hospital. All patients were examined with prostate MRI before PBx. Fourteen systematic biopsies were obtained in all patients. When a suspected lesion was present on MRI and/or TRUS, the lesion was the target of target PBx.

Results: The overall detection rate of prostate cancer (PCa) was 45% (106/238). With target PBx, the PCa detection rate was 32% overall, while that of suspected lesions seen only on MRI was 32%, that of suspected lesions seen only on TRUS was 8% and that of suspected lesions seen on both MRI and TRUS was 52%. The same tendency was shown for each physician. Comparing systematic PBx and target PBx, the overall rate of Gleason score (GS) upgrading with target PBx was 13%. The rate of PCa detected only by systematic PBx was 95%. There was no significant difference between the 2 physicians.

Conclusion: In initial PBx, the addition of target PBx of suspected cancer lesions detected by MRI and/or TRUS to systematic PBx might not be useful to improve the cancer detection rate. However, it may enable more accurate risk classification and detection of minute cancers with a high GS.