Urologist's Impact on Needle Core Prostate Biopsy Histopathologic Variables Within a Single Institution

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Pathology
• Oncology

Background:

• Prostate needle core biopsy is crucial for diagnosing prostate cancer.
• Standardization of biopsy techniques is essential for accurate cancer detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the influence of the submitting urologist on prostate needle core biopsy variables.
• To determine the relationship between biopsy metrics and prostate cancer detection rates.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 1001 extended transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate needle core biopsies (2008-2013).
• Assessment of variables including container number, total core length, longest core length, and individual core length thresholds.

Main Results:

• Total core length and individual core length metrics varied significantly between urologists but did not impact overall cancer detection rate.
• Increased tissue amount per container correlated with higher cancer detection per container.
• Container number variation between urologists did not correlate with cancer detection.

Conclusions:

• The submitting urologist significantly influences prostate biopsy metrics.
• Optimizing tissue amount per container may enhance cancer detection efficiency.
• Reducing container numbers from 12-14 to 6-9 showed a nonsignificant change in cancer detection.