The Learning Curve of Transrectal Ultrasound-guided Prostate Biopsies: Implications for Training Programs

3D Navigo™ versus TRUS-guided prostate biopsy in prostate cancer detection

“…What is commonly known is that there is a learning curve for TRUS-guided biopsy. This learning curve includes 12-50 biopsy sessions, dependent on experience and biopsy quality criteria [14,15]. As stated by Peltier, this learning curve likely also applies to 3D TRUS [11].…”

Effect of Level of Urology Training on Gleason Score and Prostate Volume Estimation Agreement between Transrectal Ultrasound Guided Biopsy and Radical Prostatectomy Specimen

“…Previous studies have examined how level of training impacts the rate of cancer detection when performing TRUS-guided prostate biopsy and found no significant differences between resident training levels in overall cancer detection [22][23][24] . Benchikh et al described a learning curve for residents on the basis of improvement of the average biopsy core length, which plateaued after 12 procedures 22 . However, this learning curve did not seem to affect cancer detection rates, which were stable throughout the study period 22 .…”

“…Benchikh et al described a learning curve for residents on the basis of improvement of the average biopsy core length, which plateaued after 12 procedures 22 . However, this learning curve did not seem to affect cancer detection rates, which were stable throughout the study period 22 .…”

“…Accuracy of prostate cancer detection has been shown to be influenced by the length of biopsy cores 21 . Benchikh et al studied average length of biopsy cores taken by residents and reported significant improvement in average core length from the first to twelfth biopsies performed, after which point average core length plateaued 22 . A few studies have examined the performance of urology residents in TRUS prostate biopsies with regards to cancer detection, and have shown residents at all levels of training perform equally well 22,23 .…”

“…Benchikh et al studied average length of biopsy cores taken by residents and reported significant improvement in average core length from the first to twelfth biopsies performed, after which point average core length plateaued 22 . A few studies have examined the performance of urology residents in TRUS prostate biopsies with regards to cancer detection, and have shown residents at all levels of training perform equally well 22,23 . In our program, prior to autonomy, residents have formal didactics and supervised training during their internship (PGY-1) year.…”