Are we closer to automated pathological assessment of prostate cancer biopsy slides?

According to a recent article in Modern Pathology, a team of researchers at Yale University and at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have been able to show that an artificial intelligence (AI) system designed and validated at MSKCC could be used to diagnose prostate cancer as either “suspicious” or “not suspicious” based on data from nearly 2,000 slides of prostate tissue acquired at Yale Medicine. … READ MORE …

How does your doctor do prostate biopsies?

So (in our opinion) the time has come — for a whole bunch of reasons — for actual and potential prostate cancer patients to start asking their urologists about whether they are able to carry out transperineal as opposed to transrectal biopsies. … READ MORE …

Risk for and detection of clinically significant prostate cancer in previously unbiopsied patients

The “best” way to identify clinically significant, localized prostate cancer continues to evolve. But there is still no consensus about what that “best” way might be to do this, let alone any consensus about the detection of “clinically insignificant”, localized prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

“Doctor, where did my cancer go?”

Some 18 months ago we had written about the possible occurrence of spontaneous remissions in men on active surveillance (AS) for low-risk forms of prostate cancer. We were therefore very interested in a recent article closely related to this topic. … READ MORE..

Is Howard done with biopsies “forever”?

One of the questions that has been nagging at Howard Wolinsky for a while now is whether he really needs to have another biopsy … ever! … READ MORE …

What did we learn at the AUA this year?

The annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) is one at which a great deal of information is exchanged, but a lot of that information is of limited utility to patients. … READ MORE …

MRI and MRI-guided biopsies — a new Cochrane review

Cochrane reviews are structured, systematic, focused reviews of evidence in the field of medicine that either support or do not support specific forms of diagnosis and management of patients with or suspected of having particular disorders. … READ MORE …

Yes, you are at risk … but risk of exactly what?

An article just published in Urologic Oncology has reported — perhaps not surprisingly — that men who have a single, initial negative biopsy as a consequence of suspicion of prostate cancer are at significant risk for actual diagnosis of prostate cancer over the next 20 years. … READ MORE …

Howard Wolinsky dodges another MRI and another biopsy

Under the heading “Rats, my PSA went up. Do I need another bleeping biopsy?” Howard Wolinsky provides us with the latest “lowdown” on his 8-year-long prostate cancer journey on active surveillance. … READ MORE …

Prognosis of patient progression and outcomes on active surveillance

The prostate cancer research team led by Dr. Peter Pinto at the National Cancer Institute has just published some interesting new information on risk for disease progression in men on active surveillance. … READ MORE …

Can MRI data improve decision-making about the need for a biopsy?

Last week we noted that adding MRI data to the Partin tables and to the Kattan/MSKCC nomograms did not seem to improve the accuracy of prognosis of outcomes after radical prostatectomy. … READ MORE …

“I’m not having another biopsy after the last one!”

It will come as no particular surprise that men who have had complications after a prior biopsy tend to be less enthusiastic when it is suggested that they need another one. However, … … READ MORE …

MRI-guided biopsy in the diagnosis of prostate cancer (again)

The results of the so-called PRECISION trial were just published in the New England Journal of Medicine this morning. … READ MORE …

Using MRI-guided biopsies to diagnose prostate cancer with high accuracy

Many prostate cancer patients — and particularly those who don’t like the idea of prostate biopsies — think that if one uses MRI-guided biopsies alone one might only need to have one or two biopsy cores taken to accurately diagnose prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

MRI-targeted biopsies: better than standard biopsies for at least some patients

A new article in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine has just reported the full results of the so-called PRECISION trial of MRI-targeted vs. standard biopsy techniques in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. … READ MORE …