fusion biopsy
Prostate Cancer: Designing a Smarter High-Tech Biopsy
Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins
Caption: When the biopsy is completed, a 3D data map is generated. In this actual example, what is shown is the contour of the prostate (red), location of the tumor (green), the location of the standard random prostate biopsies (white cores), and the location of the targeted fusion biopsies (yellow cores).
Credit: Peter A. Pinto, National Cancer Institute, NIH
Many of you probably know that prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in American men. But here’s something that might surprise you: the way in which doctors biopsy for prostate cancer hasn’t changed significantly in nearly 30 years—even though about a million such biopsies are conducted every year in the United States.
Unlike breast cancer biopsies, which sample tissue from a suspicious area seen on a mammogram, prostate cancer biopsies still are generally performed as random, 12-point searches to see if any cancerous cells might be lurking somewhere in the prostate gland. While random biopsies have helped to save many lives, NIH-supported research has developed a targeted approach that brings much-needed efficiency to the diagnostic process—and appears to be better at detecting aggressive, high-risk prostate cancer than current methods.
