Prostate Cancer Biopsy

Despite the fact that there are several different tests that can be taken if you suspect the presence of prostate cancer, the only sure way to detect the state is through a prostate biopsy. But it is precisely the success of the biopsy is when it comes to confirm the disease?

In the United States each year, there is in the region of one million procedures prostate biopsy which about 25 per cent indicate the existence of prostate cancer. Among the remaining 75 percent of prostate biopsies But about one third show false negative results. This means that nearly 25 percent of all men being subjected to a biopsy of the prostate are offset by this test, despite the fact that they have prostate cancer.

On the face of it therefore it may appear that cancer of the prostate biopsy is not a very effective test, but the results do not show that there is something wrong with the biopsy procedure prostate as a means of diagnosing the presence of prostate cancer. What it does mean, however, clearly is that there is a need to detect people who, despite returning a negative result, however, are at high risk of prostate cancer and should therefore be a second follow-up biopsy.

The problem is that until very recently, there has been no easy way to identify patients at risk. However, a study of over 500 patients being investigated for the presence of prostate cancer can now provide a solution.

All individuals examined in the study had already received a negative outcome of prostate biopsy, but researchers have discovered that when they looked at the patient's prostate specific antigen (PSA) test results and these were adjusted to reflect the size of the prostate gland, they were able to identify individuals who were likely to return positive results on a second biopsy.

The researchers also found that men with a score of 7 or higher Gleeson were at increased risk of prostate cancer life threatening and were again more likely to receive a positive result from a subsequent biopsy. Gleeson score is measured on a scale of between 2 and 10 and the score is calculated from a laboratory study of tissue biopsy of the prostate. low scores indicate the cancer with a relatively low risk of spread and high scores indicate a cancer is more likely to spread.

There are several different procedures for prostate biopsy available today but may be the procedure most often used is known as needle biopsy core. In this case, a number of small samples of tissue are removed from different areas of the prostate gland with a biopsy gun which shoots a needle into the selected section to remove the sample in a split second. These samples are then sent off to microscopic analysis to determine whether or not cancer is present and, if it is to work with precision how the prostate is affected.

Prostate cancer is a biopsy procedure is expensive and a test that can be reasonably difficult for the subject. It is sometimes a very painful procedure that may be accompanied by bleeding and the risk of infection. Therefore, it is important to identify those patients for whom follow-up biopsy would be wise to minimize the number of unnecessary biopsies is followed each year.