Researchers led by Dr. Guilherme Mariotti of Hospital Sírio-Libanês in São Paulo conducted a retrospective study of 261 patients who underwent targeted prostate biopsies using MR/ultrasound fusion between August 2013 and January 2015. All of the patients had preprocedure MR exams, which were categorized for suspicion of cancer based on a six-point Likert scale.
MR/ultrasound fusion identified 154 cases (59%) as positive for cancer, with 123 cases of significant cancer (79%), 30 cases of nonsignificant cancer (19%), and one stromal tumor of uncertain malignancy.
In comparison, the positivity rate was approximately 52% for ultrasound-guided random biopsies in a sample of 331 patients during the same period.
The study findings suggest that targeted prostate biopsies using MR/ultrasound fusion increase the accuracy of the procedure, which leads to better clinical outcomes, the researchers concluded.
