Systematic extended and saturation prostate biopsy: when and how

The increasing incidence of prostate cancer is manly due to the improvement of systematic transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy techniques. The objective of this review is to analyze the different approaches and the most common schemes used to perform prostate biopsy, the role of the anesthetic procedures, of the complementary imaging methods and the histological evaluation of the biopsy results. The actual indications to perform prostate biopsy have been also critically reviewed. We performed a review of the literature by searching Medline Database with the following key words: prostate cancer, diagnosis, trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS), prostate biopsy, anaesthesia and prognosis. Prostate biopsy is always performed under transrectal ultrasound guidance with both transrectal and transperineal approach, with a minimal core number of 10. The extended protocols include lateral peripheral zone cores and cores from lesions found on palpation or imaging. Saturation biopsies should be performed only in case of repeat biopsies. The refinement of effective local anesthesia has allowed to increase the number of biopsies without important side effects. Complementary imaging methods might be adopted in order to reduce the number of unnecessary procedures .The histological issues related to the number and the location of cores are still matter of debate as important prognostic factors. According to international guidelines, the factors most involved in performing prostate biopsy still include suspicious digital rectal examination and PSA. Both the transrectal and the transperineal approach in prostatic biopsy are valid in term of detection rate and low incidence of side effects. The initial biopsy scheme in mainly extended, saturation biopsy has to be considered only in the repeat setting, with the eventual help of the complementary imaging methods. The histological issues has to be considered about patient's prognosis.