Author(s)

Nicolas B. Delongchamps, Gustavo de la Roza, Paul Perrin, Michaël Peyromaure, Gabriel P. Haas

Astellas Pharma Global Development, Inc., Deerfield, USA.
Department of Pathology, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, USA.
Department of Urology, Cochin Hospital, Paris Descartes University, Paris, France.
Department of Urology, Lyon South Hospital, Lyon, France.

Purpose: To characterize missed prostate tumors and their cumulative volume with various biopsy regimens to determine optimal biopsy schemes. Methods: We performed 6, 12 and 18-core needle biopsies on 165 and 36-core biopsies on 47 autopsy prostates, respectively. The 6-core biopsy included 6 cores from the mid peripheral zone (MPZ), the 12-core biopsy included 6 cores from the MPZ and lateral PZ (LPZ), and the 18-core biopsies included 6 cores from the MPZ, LPZ and central zone (CZ). The 36-core biopsies included 12 cores in each of these 3 areas. We analyzed the sensitivity of biopsies at each site and evaluated the cumulative volume of cancers and tumor foci missed. Results: Whole-mount analysis identified 59 cancers, 110 tumor foci, and a total cumulative tumor volume of 43 cm³. The percentage of tumor foci and corresponding cumulative volume missed with 6, 12, 18 and 36-core biopsies were of 79% and 58%, 64% and 48%, 57% and 26%, and 42% and 17%, respectively (p < 0.05). 12-core biopsies from the MPZ and LPZ performed best for clinically significant cancers detection. However, increasing the number of cores over the 6-core biopsy cutoff increased solely the detection of tumor foci < 0.5 cm³. Conclusion: Twelve biopsies from the MPZ and LPZ detected most of the clinically significant cancers while missing most of the tumor foci. These missed tumors represented only a small amount of the overall cancer volume.

Prostate Cancer; Prevalence; Biopsy; Clinical Significance

N. Delongchamps, G. Roza, P. Perrin, M. Peyromaure and G. Haas, "Characteristics of Prostate Cancers Missed by Biopsies: Evaluation of Cumulative Tumor Volume Missed According to Cancer True Prevalence," Open Journal of Urology, Vol. 3 No. 5, 2013, pp. 210-216. doi: 10.4236/oju.2013.35039.