Positron emission tomography/computed tomography-guided percutaneous trans-pararectal space prostate biopsy for the diagnosis of prostate cancer: A retrospective study

Background: Biopsy is considered the gold-standard technique for prostate cancer diagnosis and is recommended in patients with a high clinical indication of prostate cancer. In this study, we aimed to determine the diagnostic efficacy of a novel positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous trans-pararectal space-based approach to targeted prostate biopsy.Methods PET/CT-guided percutaneous trans-pararectal space prostate biopsies were performed in 14 consecutive patients with indications of prostate cancer. Whole-body 18 F-FDG PET/CT indicated the presence of 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-avid focal prostate lesions. Two tissue specimens were obtained from each patient. The final diagnoses were established based on the results of a histopathological analysis and clinical follow-up, and these findings were used to verify the diagnostic accuracy of 18 F-FDG PET/CT for prostate cancer.Results The diagnostic accuracy of 18 F-FDG PET/CT for prostate cancer was 81.8%. Further analyses of the two biopsied samples per patient led to confirmed histopathological and immunohistochemical diagnoses of prostate cancer in all 14 patients. Consequently, the success rate of PET/CT-guided percutaneous trans-pararectal space prostate-targeted biopsy for the diagnosis of prostate cancer was 100.0% (14/14). Regarding safety, the average duration of biopsy was 20 min, and no serious complications occurred.Conclusions PET/CT-guided percutaneous trans-pararectal space prostate biopsy may yield a new approach to targeted prostate biopsy for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Moreover, this biopsy procedure can be performed safely without complications, and is more cost-effective than conventional trans-rectal and trans-perineal prostate biopsy methods.