Is The Prostate Cancer Biopsy An Effective Diagnostic Tool?

By: Donald Saunders
Submitted: 2007-11-21 13:25:12
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Despite the fact that there are a variety of different tests which may be undertaken if the presence of prostate cancer is suspected, the one sure way to diagnose the disease is the prostate biopsy. But just how successful is the biopsy when it comes to confirming this condition?

In the US alone each year there are approximately one million prostate biopsies undertaken of which about 25 percent indicate the presence of prostate cancer. However, of the remaining 75 percent of prostate biopsies approximately one-third show false negative results. This means that about a quarter of all those men undergoing prostate biopsies are being cleared by their biopsy, despite the fact that they actually have prostate cancer.

On the surface therefore it might seem that the prostate biopsy is not a very effective test but the results do not in fact demonstrate that there is anything wrong with the biopsy as a tool for confirming the presence of prostate cancer. However, what is does clearly show is the need to identify those individuals who, despite returning a negative result, are nevertheless at considerable risk from prostate cancer and ought therefore to undergo a follow-up biopsy.

The difficulty is that until recently there has not been an easy way of identifying those patients at risk. However, a recent study of more than five hundred patients being investigated for the presence of prostate cancer may now provide an answer.

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

In addition, the researchers found that men with a Gleeson score of 7 or more were at greater risk from life-threatening prostate cancer and were again more likely to record a positive result on a second biopsy. The Gleeson score runs on a scale from 2 to 10 and the score is found from a microscopic investigation of the prostate biopsy tissue. Low scores indicate cancer with a low risk of spread while a high score points to cancer which is more likely to spread.

There are a variety of different prostate biopsy procedures in use now although possibly the most common procedure is the core needle biopsy. In this case several very small samples of tissue are removed from different sections of the prostrate using a biopsy gun which shoots a needle into the chosen area to remove the sample in just a fraction of a second. The samples collected are then sent off for laboratory examination to determine whether cancer is present and, if it is, to establish just how much of the prostate is affected.

The prostate biopsy is an expensive procedure and is one which can be quite nerve-racking for the subject. It is sometimes also a fairly painful test which may be accompanied by bleeding and the risk of infection. For these reasons it is in everyone's interest to identify those patients for whom a follow-up biopsy is prudent and to reduce as far as we can the number of preventable follow-up biopsies being done every year.

Article source: Expert Articles