Efficiency of 6- and 12-punctures biopsies to detect prostate cancer in patients with PSA

Objective: Establish the efficiency of 6- and 12-punctures transrectal ultrasound-guided needle biopsies in low risk patients for prostate cancer. Six-punctures (sextant) biopsies were compared to 12-punctures biopsies, assessing which is the best strategy to detect this neoplasm.

Materials And Methods: Among 240 patients submitted to prostate biopsy, 54 with suspected small and organ-localized tumors (prostatic specific antigen
Results: Twenty-two (40.7%) patients had prostatic cancer, and 28 presented prostatic hyperplasia, associated or not to inflammatory conditions. High-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) was detected in 4 patients. From 22 tumors detected by 12-punctures biopsies, 6-punctures biopsies in the parasagittal midline (sextant) diagnosed 50%of the cases, while isolated lateral punctures diagnosed 90.9% of the malignant neoplasms. Basal lateral punctures responded for 72.7% of the cancer diagnosis, while basal sextant punctures responded only for 9.1% of the cases.

Conclusion: For low risk prostate cancer, patients' 12-punctures biopsy was more effective, for sextant biopsy failed to diagnose half of the cases of neoplasm. Three lateral punctures (basal, mid, and apical), with 2 additional punctures in the parasagittal midline (mid and apical) bilaterally are suggested as the best biopsy strategy.