Transrectal saturation technique may improve cancer detection as an initial prostate biopsy strategy in men with prostate-specific antigen <10 ng/ml.

Abstract

Using transrectal saturation prostate biopsy (SPBx) as an initial strategy remains a controversial topic. To compare SPBx with extended prostate biopsy (EPBx) as an initial biopsy template in a large sequential cohort study. We reviewed 438 men with initial SPBx and 3338 men who underwent initial EPBx between January 2002 and October 2011. Office-based SPBx under periprostatic local anesthesia. The yield of SPBx was compared with EPBx. Multivariable logistic regression models addressed cancer detection (CD) and cancer characteristics. Overall CD was 51.6% and 42.6% in men who underwent initial SPBx and EPBx, respectively. Multivariate analysis confirmed that SPBx was an independent predictor factor correlated with the CD (odds ratio [OR]: 1.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30-1.92). Stratified by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) values, CD was higher in SPBx compared with EPBx, 47.1% versus 32.8% (OR: 2.00; 95% CI, 1.19-3.38) in patients with a PSA <4 ng/ml and 50.9% versus 42.9% in patients with a PSA from 4 ng/ml to 9.9 ng/ml (OR: 1.62; 95% CI, 1.20-2.20). By contrast, SPBx did not increase CD in men with a PSA >10 ng/ml (60.0% vs 61%; OR: 1.42; 95% CI, 0.70-2.89). There was no significant difference in the detection of insignificant cancer (p = 0.223) or low-risk cancer (p = 0.077) between the two biopsy schemes. The limitation of our study is its retrospective nature and inhomogeneity. Compared with EPBx, SPBx significantly increases CD as an initial biopsy strategy in men with a PSA <10 ng/ml without a significant increase in the detection of insignificant cancer. These findings suggest that SPBx may merit further investigation as an initial biopsy strategy in men with a PSA <10 ng/ml in hopes of avoiding repeat biopsy for missed malignancy during the initial biopsy.