Is The Prostate Cancer Biopsy An Effective Diagnostic Tool?

By Author: Donald Saunders
Total Articles: 84
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Although there are various tests which can be carried out if you suspect the presence of prostate cancer, the one sure way to detect the condition is through a prostate cancer biopsy. But exactly how successful is the biopsy when it comes to detecting this disease?

In the US alone every year there are in the region of one million prostate cancer biopsy procedures carried out of which some 25 percent show the presence of prostate cancer. Of the remaining 75 percent of prostate biopsies however approximately one-third indicate false negative results. This means that approximately a quarter of all men being given prostate biopsies are cleared by their biopsy, in spite of the fact that they are suffering from prostate cancer.

On the surface therefore it may seem that the prostate cancer biopsy is not a very effective test but the results do not demonstrate that there is anything wrong with the prostate biopsy procedure as a method of diagnosing prostate cancer. But, what is does clearly show is that there is a need to recognize those patients who, despite returning a negative result, are nevertheless at high risk from ...
... prostate cancer and ought therefore to undergo a follow-up biopsy.

The problem is that until now there has not been a simple way of identifying patients at risk. Fortunately, a recent study of more than 500 individuals being investigated for prostate cancer may now provide a solution.

All of the individuals investigated in the study had previously received a negative prostate biopsy result but the researchers discovered that when they looked at the men's PSA test results and these were adjusted for the size of the prostate they were able to identify those patients who were likely to return positive results on a second biopsy.

The researchers also found that patients with a Gleeson score of 7 or higher were at an increased risk from life-threatening prostate cancer and were again more likely to record a positive result on a second biopsy. The Gleeson score is measured on a scale between 2 and 10 and the score is found from a microscopic investigation of the prostate biopsy tissue. A low score indicates cancer with a small risk of spread while a high score indicates cancer that is much more likely to spread.

There are various prostate biopsy procedures in use nowadays although perhaps the most common procedure is the core needle biopsy. Here a number of tiny samples of tissue are removed from different parts of the prostrate with a biopsy gun that fires a needle into the selected section to remove the sample in a fraction of a second. These samples are then sent for microscopic analysis to ascertain whether cancer is present and, if so, to ascertain exactly how much of the prostate is affected.

A prostate cancer biopsy is not a cheap procedure and is a test that can be relatively nerve-racking for the patient. It is sometimes also a fairly painful test that can involve bleeding and the risk of infection. As a consequence it is important to spot those individuals for whom a second biopsy would be wise and to reduce as far as possible the number of avoidable follow-up biopsies being done each year.