The novel biopsy plan sharpens the diagnosis of prostate cancer. For several years now, a Brady team led by Dan Stoianovici, Ph.D., Director of the Urology Robotics Program, and urologist Misop Han, M.D., the David Hall McConnell Professor of Urology and Oncology, has been working to refine prostate biopsy so that it is less likely to “miss” cancer.

They have developed a novel, personalized approach, which the team just published in Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases. “We can generate a personalized biopsy plan for every patient,” says Stoianovici, “based on an individual’s unique prostate anatomy and MRI findings.”

Their findings have exciting implications for many men: “In our study, we found that a personalized systemic biopsy likely achieves adequate detection and sampling of areas of interest identified on MRI in men with small prostate glands” – an important outcome, because not all patients have access to an MRI fusion biopsy, where the MRI image is combined with transrectal ultrasound to create a more detailed picture. However, the team recommends that men with large prostate glands should get MRI fusion-targeted biopsies.

This study was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and the Patrick C. Walsh Prostate Cancer Research Fund.