PINPOINT IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF PROSTATE CANCER: MR FUSION BIOPSY
According to the data of the American Cancer Society, 1 out of every 6 men will develop prostate cancer during their lifetime. This disease, which causes the most common cancer deaths after lung cancer in men, can be successfully treated when diagnosed early. One of the revolutionary developments in the diagnosis of this disease, in which early diagnosis is extremely important, has been the “MR Fusion Biopsy” method.
How is Early Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer?
Prostate cancer does not have typical early symptoms and it manifests itself only with complaints that occur in the advanced period. At this stage, it may not be possible for the person to get rid of this disease. Therefore, it is very important to detect the disease at an early stage when it is limited to the prostate, that is, it does not give any clinical symptoms. For early diagnosis, those with a family history of prostate cancer should apply to a urologist once a year after the age of 45 and those who do not have a family history of 50 years.
How Is Prostate Cancer Diagnosed?
Measuring the blood level of a protein called “PSA”, which is secreted from the prostate and passes into the blood to a certain extent, and finger examination of the prostate from the anus are the first step in diagnosis. In these two diagnostic methods, if findings suggestive of prostate cancer are detected, tissue sampling with prostate biopsy is required for definitive diagnosis.
How Is Prostate Biopsy Performed?
Classical prostate biopsy is performed by entering from the anus with ultrasound guidance, and tissue samples are taken by blindly shooting 10-12 points of the prostate. However, with this method, only 70-75% of prostate cancer cases can be diagnosed, and a significant portion of cancer cases are missed. Repeated biopsies are recommended for patients who are not diagnosed with cancer after biopsy, but the suspicion of cancer continues, which creates a serious risk of infection, bleeding and pain.
What is MR Fusion Biopsy?
MR Fusion Biopsy is a highly sensitive “smart biopsy” method that detects the foci suspicious of cancer in the prostate and enables pinpoint shooting towards these targets. In the procedure, first of all, multi-slice MR images of the prostate are examined and suspicious foci for cancer are marked. Then, MR images are processed with the help of a special software and combined with ultrasound images, after the images are made 3-dimensional, the biopsy needle is directed to the marked suspicious points with the help of a robotic arm, and targeted biopsy is performed
This method has a very high accuracy rate (98%) in the diagnosis of prostate cancer, cancer cases are not missed and repetitive biopsies are not required as in standard biopsies.
