[Systematic bilateral aspiration biopsy in the screening of prostatic cancer]

Systematic fine-needle aspiration biopsies and core biopsies were simultaneously obtained on 200 patients with suspected prostatic cancer over a 12-month period. The technical aspect of cellular aspiration and fixation was carefully adjusted. 6 to 8 transrectal bilateral aspirations per patient were performed, and their results were compared to those of core biopsies guided on suspicious areas revealed by rectal examination or transrectal ultrasound. The sensitivity of aspiration for the diagnosis of prostatic cancer is 87%. The specificity is 95%, with a positivity in 3 cases of prostatic cancer in which core biopsy is negative. No cytologic specimen is inadequate for diagnosis. The correlation between cytologic and histologic patterns shows that the proportion of Gleason grade 2 decreases with the cytologic grade, whereas the proportion of Gleason grade 5 increases gradually. Both results show the importance of multiple sampling in the cytological procedure, and confirm the diagnostic value of prostatic fine-needle aspiration method.