Risk of upgrading from prostate biopsy to radical prostatectomy pathology: Can Shear Wave Elastography using ultrasound narrow that gap?

Abstract

Prostate cancer is still one of the main causes of death among men. Current methods such as PSA, TURS and DRE have some limitations in detecting and diagnosing prostate cancer. For this reason, efforts have been exerted to come up with new techniques such as ultrasound shear wave elastography (USWE). This study aimed to review different methods but with a particular focus on USWE. The study also aimed to determine the effectiveness of USWE in detecting prostate cancer as well as examine the relationship between upgrading from biopsy GS≤7(3+4) to GS≥7(4+3) and patients’ background characteristics: age, weight, PSA level and USWE. The study population was made of 212 patients who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and endured laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP). The study found no significant differences between downgraded and upgraded patients, which has led to conclude that USWE is not effective in detecting prostate cancer. When the researcher examined the differences between downgraded and upgraded groups with respect to patients’ attributes, the results demonstrated significant differences between the two groups in regard to the weight where the prostate size was found to be larger among downgraded patients than their counterparts upgraded patients. Furthermore, the results indicated a significant difference between the two groups in relation to PSA. Finally, the study found no significant relationship between upgrading from biopsy GS≤7(3+4) to GS≥7(4+3) and patients’ background characteristics: age, weight, PSA level and USWE and patients’ background characteristics (age, weight, PSA level and USWE).

It can be concluded that the study results suggest conducting a further investigation for the effectiveness of USWE using a large sample size, particularly upgraded patients.