MR/TRUS Fusion Guided Prostate Biopsy

The efficacy of targeting lesions for surgery may be limited by the visibility of a target during the procedure. The successful outcome of surgical intervention depends upon accurate device placement, which may be very challenging in certain settings, such as when a kidney tumor only is visible for a brief moment during the transient arterial phase of a contrast injection, and soon disappearing on dynamic imaging. Historically, prostate cancer was diagnosed by digitally guided trans-rectal prostate biopsies. With PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) screening and improvements in ultrasonography, trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided prostate biopsy have become the standard of care to screen and diagnose localized prostate cancer. Standard US 12-14 core prostate biopsy is now common practice, detecting cancer in 27% to 44% of patients. Prostate MR imaging at 3 Tesla magnet dramatically improves diagnostic utility dramatically but biopsies are difficult, time-consuming, and require specialized equipment, which increases the cost significantly. To meet this challenge TRUS images are overlaid on a previously obtained prostate MRI, combined with an electromagnetic tracking system. The urologist then performs directed prostate biopsies at MR-identified targets in addition to the standard prostate biopsies. This study will consist of comparison of the standard of care prostate biopsy with the protocol biopsy which consists of a US guided prostate biopsy and a MR/US fusion tracked prostate biopsy. Each patient will act as their own control.