Elastography Targeted Prostate Biopsy in Patients under Active Surveillance

Abstract

<b><i>Objective:</i></b> The aim of this study was to examine elastography-based prostate biopsy in prostate cancer (PCa) patients under active surveillance. <b><i>Patients and Methods:</i></b> We relied on PCa patients who opted for active surveillance and underwent elastography targeted and systematic follow-up biopsy at the Braunschweig Prostate Cancer Center between October 2009 and February 2015. Each prostate sextant was considered as an individual case. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy (ACC) for elastography to predict follow-up biopsy results were analyzed, respectively, and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were carried out by using 2000 bootstrapping sample analyses. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Overall, 50 men and 300 sextants were identified. Overall, 27 (54%) men and 66 (22%) sextants harbored PCa at follow-up biopsy. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and ACC for elastography to predict follow-up biopsy results were: 19.7 (95% CI: 11.9–27.3), 86.8 (95% CI: 82.7–90.3), 29.6 (95% CI: 14.6–46.0), 79.3 (95% CI: 71.6–86.5), and 72.0% (95% CI: 65.7–78.3), respectively. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> We recorded limited reliability of elastography-based prediction of follow-up biopsy results in active surveillance patients. Based on our analyses, we can neither recommend to rely exclusively on elastography-based targeted biopsies nor to delay or to omit follow-up biopsies based on elastography results during active surveillance.