Simple Solution

Detecting Prostate Cancer—A Prospective Comparison of Systematic Prostate Biopsy With Targeted Biopsy Guided by Fused MRI and Transrectal Ultrasound by Dr. med. Marko Brock, Dr. med. Christian von Bodman, Dr. med. Jüri Palisaar, Dr. med. Wolfgang Becker, Dr. med. Philipp Martin-Seidel, and Prof. Dr. med. Joachim Noldus in issue 37/2015

A group of patients who underwent transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided prostate biopsy was compared with a group of patients who, after a previous negative biopsy, were biopsied again using a fusion of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and TRUS imaging data (1). The sensitivity of TRUS is only 50%.

There is no mentioning of the fact that bleeding as well as abscess and scar formation may occur in the prostate after biopsies which then can significantly impair the MRI-based detection of prostate cancer.

How easy would it be to have an MRI done prior to the biopsy to assist with biopsy planning. As a “by-product”, the tumor stage could be determined. In addition, lymph nodes and bones are also visualized in the examined area.

However, this is not the way medicine is practiced today.

DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2016.0149a

Dr. med. Thomas Fox

Radiologische Gemeinschaftspraxis am Krankenhaus St. Josef

Conflict of interest statement Form

The author declares that no conflict of interest exists.

References

1. Brock M, von Bodman C, Palisaar J, Becker W, Martin-Seidel P, Noldus J: Detecting prostate cancer—a prospective comparison of systematic prostate biopsy with targeted biopsy guided by fused MRI and transrectal ultrasound. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2015; 112: 605–11