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Updated: Jul 15, 2026
Microarray-based Identification of Individual HERV Loci Expression: Application to Biomarker Discovery in Prostate Cancer
Published on: November 2, 2013
Patients with low prostate-specific antigen levels (< or =4 ng/ml) would benefit from a twelve-core biopsy protocol
Thore Thiesler1, Felix Trinkler, Milo Horcic
1Kantonales Institut fur Pathologie, Liestal, Schweiz.
Introduction:
Prostate biopsy protocols using twelve cores rather than the standard six cores have consistently shown improved prostate cancer detection rates. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether the improved rate of prostate cancer detection in patients with low prostate-specific antigen levels warrants the standardization of a twelve-core biopsy protocol in this group.
Patients And Methods:
The clinical and pathological records from 241 patients treated between 2000 and 2003 were evaluated, and the impact of a twelve-core biopsy protocol on the prostate cancer detection rate relative to prostate-specific antigen levels compared to the standardized six-core biopsies was analyzed.
Results:
Prostate cancer was detected in 34% (81/241) of the patients who underwent transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy. An additional 23.5% (19/81) of the carcinomas were diagnosed using the twelve-core biopsy protocol, and 84.2% (16/19) of these fulfilled the clinical significance criterion developed by Epstein and coworkers (see text). Interestingly, the greatest increase was found in the patient group with prostate-specific antigen levels < or =4 ng/ml.
Conclusions:
Patients with low prostate-specific antigen levels (< or =4 ng/ml) would benefit from the standardized use of a twelve-core biopsy protocol using peripheral cores.
