Objective: To evaluate the detection rate of anterior zone (AZ) prostate cancer (PCa) in patients submitted to initial and repeat transperineal prostate biopsy. Methods: From January 2013 to August 2013, 226 patients (median age 64 years) with negative digital rectal examination underwent initial (144 cases) and repeat (82 cases) transperineal prostate biopsy for PSA >10 ng/ml, PSA 4.1-10.0 or 2.6-4.0 ng/ml with free/total PSA ≤25% and ≤20%, respectively. A median of 22 versus 32 cores were performed, including 4 cores of the AZ versus 6 cores (4 anterior plus 2 cores of the transition zone, TZ) at initial versus repeat biopsy, respectively. The detection rate of PCa of the peripheral zone (PZ), AZ and TZ was prospectively evaluated. Results: The median PSA was 7.6 ng/ml; overall, a stage cT1c PCa was found in 104/226 (46%) patients, in 70 (48.6%) and 34 (41.5%) of the men who underwent initial and repeat biopsy, respectively. An AZ PCa was found in 11.5 vs. 8.8% (p = 0.32) of the patients submitted to initial versus repeat biopsy, respectively. AZ cancers demonstrated a number of positive cores (p = 0.03), greatest percentage of cancer (p = 0.001) and total percentage of cancer (p = 0.001) significantly lower in comparison with PZ PCa; moreover, 56.2 vs. 36.5% of AZ versus PZ PCa were characterized by a microfocus of cancer (p = 0.001), respectively. Conclusions: AZ biopsies increase the detection rate of PCa (about 10% of cases) at initial and repeat biopsy, allowing reduction of the biopsy false-negative rate.

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Background/Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the urinary SelectMDx test in the diagnosis of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) in men enrolled in an active surveillance (AS) protocol. Patients and Methods: From July 2015 to July 2018, 125 men with very low-risk PCa were enrolled in the AS protocol; all patients underwent confirmatory transperineal saturation biopsy (SPBx). In the presence of PI-RADS score ≥3, a targeted MRI/TRUS fusion-guided biopsy was added to SPBx. Postdigital rectal examination urine was collected in 45/125 (36%) patients before SPBx; the genetic urine analysis was performed using a biomarker-based risk score model, the SelectMDx, that measured mRNA levels of distal-less homeobox 1 (DLX1) and homeobox C6 (HOXC6). Results: A total of 9/45 (20%) patients were reclassified as csPCa (7 cases=Grade Group 2; 2 cases=Grade Group 3); sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of mpMRI vs. SelectMDx in the diagnosis of csPCa were equal to 66.

Aim: To report prevalence and clinical relevance of T1c prostate cancers (PCa) in a selected population of men with serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels ≤4 ng/ml enrolled in a multicenter case-finding protocol. Patients andMethods: A number of 16,298 men, aged 40–75 years, from the urology units they had been referred to, in most cases (81.6%) for lower urinary tract symptoms, were evaluated. Eighty percent of them had PSA ≤4 ng/ml and about 40% PSA ≤2.5 ng/ml. Patients with PSA ≤2.5 ng/ml and PSA between 2.6 and 4 ng/ml and with percent free PSA ≤15 and ≤20%, respectively, were eligible for biopsy; 28 patients refused it, and 11 patients were excluded from the study because of an abnormal digital rectal examination. Among 403 biopsied men, 82 had PSA ≤2.5 ng/ml (group A) and 321 PSA between 2.6 and 4 ng/ml (group B). Results: A PCa was found in 109 cases (27.0%): 21 in group A and 88 in group B. 48 (44%) of the 109 patients with a PCa underwent radical prostatectomy: all cancers had a volume >0.5 cm³, and 41% had a final Gleason sum ≧7; the PCa was organ confined in 34 patients (70.8%) and locally advanced in 14 patients (29.1%), and in 12 patients (25%) positive surgical margins were found. Conclusions: Using percent free PSA thresholds of 15 and 20%, 25.6% of the men with PSA ≤2.5 ng/ml and 27.4% of the men with PSA between 2.6 and 4 ng/ml were found to have a PCa, respectively. Most of these cancers, when submitted to radical prostatectomy, were found to be clinically significant. As these cancers are mostly organ confined, these patients are ideal candidates for curative nerve-sparing surgery.

Repeat transperineal SPBx under sedation did not significantly worsened erectile function; the minimal risk of temporary post-biopsy ED could be previously discussed (not emphasised) with potent patients.