Impact of a novel ultrasound microvascular imaging and elastography on prostate cancer classification

This study was aimed to compare the sensitivity of transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided systematic biopsy (TRUS-SB), superb microvascular imaging guided targeted biopsy (SMI-TB), and elastography ultrasound guided targeted biopsy (EU-TB) in detecting prostate cancer (PCa).

One hundred and eighty-four patients with suspicious PCa were randomly divided into two groups, SMI-TB group (n=92) and EU-TB group (n=92). All the patients received a 2-core SMI-TB or a 2-core EU-TB before receiving a 12-core TRU-SB depending on the group. The 2-core SMI-TB was conducted at the most increased vascularity areas rated by a radiologist on a semi-quantitative criterion. The 2-core EU-TB was performed at the dark blue areas that identified as suspicious areas. The PCa detection rate was compared among TRUS-SB, SMI-TB, and EU-TB in the total population and in two groups.

PCa was detected in 65 out of 184 patients. The SMI-TB group patients received 1,272 cores in total with a positive rate of 23.81% (40/168) for SMI-TB cores and 4.17% (46/1,104) for TRUS-SB cores. The EU-TB group patients received a total of 1,262 cores with a positive rate of 31.01% (49/158) for EU-TB cores and 5.34% (59/1,104) for TRUS-SB cores. Targeted cores (27.30%, 89/326) achieved significantly higher sensitivity in PCa detection than systematic cores (4.76%, 105/2,208) (SMI-TB vs. TRUS-SB: OR 7.188, P<0.001; EU-TB vs. TRUS-SB: OR 7.962, P<0.001).

Superb microvascular imaging and elastography ultrasound guided targeted biopsy may result in higher prostate cancer detection rate as adjunct to gray-scale ultrasound guided systematic biopsy. However, targeted biopsy alone is not sufficient to detect PCa, compared with systematic biopsy.