Survey of prostate biopsy practices among urologists in Nigeria

Prostate biopsy (PB) is one of the most commonly performed procedures by urologists in our practice. It is the confirmatory diagnosis of the most common malignancy in elderly men. Currently, there is no national guideline on PB in Nigeria; hence, practices vary among urologists and institutions. The sudy aim was to highlight the various PB practices among Nigerian urologists with a view to determining the gap between our practice and evidenced-based global practice.

A descriptive cross-sectional study which utilised self-administered questionnaires distributed among urologists who participated at the Nigerian Association of Urological Surgeons' (NAUS) Conference in Lagos in 2014.

The total number of respondents was 102, distributed across 26 states and various levels of the hospital. All respondents stated that they always perform biopsy if prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was >10 ng/ml. Seventy-nine (77.5%) respondents routinely rely on PSA kinetics in taking a decision on PB. About four-fifth routinely discontinue aspirin before the biopsy. All respondents administer antibiotics with a preference for the parenteral route in 74.5%. Anaesthesia employed for PB included, regional by 52 respondents (50.9%), local by 39 respondents (38.2%), and general by 1 respondent (1.0%), respectively. Transrectal route was preferred by 96 (94.1%). Majority (74.6%) still practice digitally-guided biopsy, whereas 25.4% perform the transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy. The number of cores commonly taken for systematic technique ranges from 6 to 18. About a quarter (25.5%) had personal or institutional publication (s) on PB.

PB practice vary among Nigerian urologists. The variability depends on individual training, preference and available institutional facilities. We recommend that NAUS should provide a guideline for the practices of PB in Nigeria.