Comparison of 10 and 12-Core Prostate Biopsy Efficiencies in Patients with PSA 20 ng-ml

INTRODUCTION: Transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUS-B) is the gold standard method used to diagnose prostate cancer. However, how many samples should be taken in TRUS-B procedure is still controversial. The aim of this study is to compare the cancer detection rates of standard 10-core and 12-core TRUS-B procedures. METHODS: Patients who underwent 10-core (Group-1) or 12-core (Group-2) TRUS-B operations were included in this retrospective study for prostate specific antigen (PSA) elevation or suspicious digital examination findings. Patients with PSA>20 ng/ml and a history of negative biopsy were excluded from the study. In addition to cancer detection rates of groups, demographic and clinical data such as age, body mass index (BMI), serum PSA ratios and prostate volume were compared. RESULTS: A total of 208 patients were included in the study (Group-1: 98, Group-2: 110). The rate of cancer detection was 43.2% in all patients included in the study. The rates of cancer detection for 10-core and 12-core TRUS-B groups were similar (41.8%, 44.5%, p=0.694, respectively). Besides, there was no significant difference between the mean BMI, median age, prostate volume and PSA values of the groups. Urinary tract infection with fever was found to be higher in 12 patients with TRUS-B but the difference was not statistically significant (3.06% and 4.54%, p=0.578). DISCUSSION and CONCLUSION: The 10-core prostate biopsy appears to be a more applicable biopsy method than the 12-core TRUS-B procedure because of requires less sampling, similar cancer detection and complication rates.