The Prostate Cancer Detection Rate on the Second Prostate Biopsy according to Prostate-Specific Antigen Trend

Natural history of histologically benign PIRADS 4-5 lesions in multiparametric MRI: Real-life experience in an academic center

INTRODUCTION

The follow-up findings of patients who underwent prostate biopsy for prostate image reporting and data system (PIRADS) 4 or 5 multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) findings and had benign histology were retrospectively reviewed.

METHODS

There were 190 biopsy-naive patients. Patients with at least 12 months of follow-up between 2012 and 2023 were evaluated. All MRIs were interpreted by two very experienced uroradiologists. Of the patients, 125 had either cognitive or software fusion MR-targeted biopsies with 4 + 8/10 cores. The remaining 65 patients had in-bore biopsies with 4-5 cores. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels below 4 ng/mL were defined as PSA regression following biopsy. PIRADS 1-3 lesions on new MRI images were classified as MRI regression.

RESULTS

Median patient age and PSA were 62 (39-82) years and six (0.4-33) ng/mL, respectively, at the initial work-up. During a median follow-up period of 44 months, 37 (19.4%) patients were lost to follow-up. Of the remaining 153 patients, 82 (53.6%) had persistently high PSA. Among them, 72 (87.8%) had repeat mpMRI within 6-24 months which showed regressive findings (PIRADS 1-3) in 53 patients (73.6%) and PIRADS 4-5 index lesion persistence in 19 cases (26.4%). The latter group was recommended to have rebiopsy. Of these 19 patients, 16 underwent MRI-targeted rebiopsy. Prostate cancer was diagnosed in six (37.5%) patients and of these four (25%) were clinically significant (>Grade Group 1). Totally, clinically significant prostate cancer was detected in 4/153 (2.6%) patients followed up.

CONCLUSION

Patients should be warned against the relative relaxing effect of a negative biopsy after identification of PIRADS 4-5 index lesion. While PSA decrease was observed in many patients during follow-up, persistent MRI findings were present in nearly a quarter of patients with persistently high PSA. A rebiopsy is warranted in these patients, with significant prostate cancer diagnosed in a quarter of patients with rebiopsy.

The safety of testosterone supplementation therapy in prostate cancer

Patients with prostate cancer can present with hypogonadism and experience health and quality-of-life declines related to low testosterone levels. Despite generations of urological dogma suggesting that testosterone supplementation therapy (TST) for hypogonadism causes prostate-cancer progression, a review of the contemporary literature provides evidence to the contrary. The prostate saturation model suggests that the androgen receptor (AR) is saturated at serum testosterone levels of 150-200 ng/dl, and that additional serum testosterone above this level has limited, if any, effects within the prostate. Indeed, studies in the modern era of PSA assessments indicate that TST does not affect prostate size, intraprostatic testosterone levels, or prostate-cancer progression, provided the baseline serum testosterone level is greater than this AR saturation point. However, the body of data on this subject comes from a small number of cases, and TST should only be administered to patients with prostate cancer after thorough discussions of the risks and benefits, with subsequent careful monitoring.

Prostate cancer detection rate in patients with fluctuating prostate-specific antigen levels on the repeat prostate biopsy

Purpose:

To evaluate whether the risk of prostate cancer was different according to the pattern of fluctuation in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in patients undergoing repeat transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUS-Bx).

Methods:

From March 2003 to December 2012, 492 patients underwent repeat TRUS-Bx. The patients were stratified into 3 groups based on the PSA fluctuation pattern: group 1 (continuous elevation of PSA, n=169), group 2 (PSA fluctuation with PSA velocity [PSAV]≥1.0 ng/mL/yr, n=123), and group 3 (PSA fluctuation with PSAV<1.0 ng/mL/yr, n=200).

Results:

Prostate cancer was detected in 112 of 492 patients (22.8%) in the repeat biopsy set. According to the PSA fluctuation pattern, prostate cancer detection rates at repeat TRUS-Bx were 29.6% (50/169) for patients with continuously increasing PSA, 30.1% (37/123) for PSA fluctuation with PSAV ≥1.0 ng/mL/yr, and 12.5% (25/200) for PSA fluctuation with PSAV <1.0 ng/mL/yr. Multivariate analysis showed that PSA fluctuation pattern and high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia at initial TRUS-Bx were the predictive parameters for positive repeat biopsies. Among the 96 patients (85.7%) who underwent radical prostatectomy, no significant differences in pathologic outcomes were found according to the PSA fluctuation pattern.

Conclusions:

The current study shows that the risk of prostate cancer at repeat TRUS-Bx was higher in men with a fluctuating PSA level and PSAV≥1.0 ng/mL/yr than in those with a fluctuating PSA level and PSAV<1.0 ng/mL/yr.