Importance of Additional "extreme" Anterior Apical Needle Biopsies in the Initial Detection of Prostate Cancer

Objectives: To describe our experience of adding extreme apical cores in men undergoing initial biopsy. Prostate cancer detection efforts have focused on increasing the number of cores. A more significant factor, however, may be their location. Laterally directed and apical cores have been associated with the highest cancer detection rate, especially the apical cores for men undergoing repeated biopsies.

Methods: A prospective trial was conducted between September 2007 and April 2009. A total of 181 men with increased prostate-specific antigen (PSA) or abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE), or both, underwent an initial transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy (TRUS-BX). All patients underwent a standard 12-core biopsy scheme plus 2 additional cores taken from the extreme anterior apex, defined as the site immediately lateral to the junction of apex and urethra. Each core was marked by a special colored ink for identification. Site-specific detection and tumor characteristics were reported.

Results: Prostate cancer was detected in 86 patients (47.5%). The apical cores (3 on each side) achieved the highest cancer detection rate (73.6% of all cancers), and the additional extreme anterior apical cores (1 on each side) achieved the highest rate of unique cancer detection (P = .011).

Conclusions: From our experience, the apical cores, especially the extreme apical cores, increase prostate cancer detection on initial TRUS-BX and minimize the potential for misdiagnosis and need for repeat biopsy.