Ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy. Biopty gun superior to aspiration.

We used a 7 MHz transrectal ultrasound scanner to perform guided core biopsy and aspiration cytologies on 292 patients with findings suspicious for prostate cancer. One hundred two cancers were identified, 35 of which were not palpable and were detected only by ultrasound. Aspiration needles were guided by ultrasound through the center of the suspicious lesion. Core biopsies were performed using an 18-gauge Tru-Cut type of needle with an automatic, spring-powered needle biopsy device (Biopty). All patients received only local anesthetic and biopsies were done as an outpatient office procedure. The core biopsies gave excellent specimens which detected 89 percent of the cancers, whereas the aspiration method detected 51 percent (P less than 0.001). Aspiration cytology was significantly less sensitive among well-differentiated compared with moderately differentiated cancers. High-resolution transrectal ultrasound and the Biopty device are detecting and documenting prostate cancer with much greater sensitivity than preceding techniques have achieved.