Prostate Biopsy

Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer affects more men in the U.S. than any other cancer, and nearly 30,000 men in the U.S. die of prostate cancer each year. Roughly 1 in 7 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their life and approximately 1 in 38 will die from prostate cancer.

We use a PSA test to screen for prostate cancer. PSA (prostatic specific antigen) is a protein made by your prostate and measured in the blood. An elevated PSA could be elevated secondary to prostate cancer or other benign causes. The only way to diagnose prostate cancer is with a prostate biopsy. In the United States, most prostate biopsies are done via ultrasound guidance.

An ultrasound probe is placed into the rectum which outlines the prostate. Ultrasound does not identify prostate cancer; it is just used as a guide to take biopsies in a systematic fashion. Standard of care is to take around 12 samples from your prostate. However, these systematic biopsies can miss 20–30% of cancers, and many cancers that are detected may not be clinically significant.

Ultrasound guided and MRI guided Artemis biopsy

Over the last several years, MRI technology has greatly improved. Your urologist can now order an MRI of your prostate which can detect an abnormal lesion on your prostate. This abnormal lesion could be prostate cancer. We have technology that allows your urologist to target that specific abnormal lesion in your prostate.

The Artemis gives your urologist the technology to navigate to a desired location for prostate biopsy and record this information for future reference, treatment planning and monitoring. This breakthrough in imaging and mapping is a major improvement over existing 2D ultrasound routinely used for prostate cancer biopsies. Without being able to clearly see the prostate in real time, urologists have had no choice but to gather less-than-precise information to determine treatment.

When targeting a biopsy, your physician can navigate throughout the prostate gland with a much higher degree of accuracy and confidence. MRI guided biopsies using Artemis have been shown to diagnose more clinically significant cancer and less non-clinically significant cancers (ones that likely will not affect your life) compared to standard ultrasound biopsies.

Your physician can provide you with a detailed report showing your prostate dimensions, biopsy sites, and where cancer or other anomalies may be found. If you are on an active surveillance plan, your subsequent biopsies will be much more accurately sampled. This is because your physician now can re-biopsy the same location in the gland or to sample other areas around any specific biopsy location.

If you have an elevated PSA, ask your urologist about an MRI guided Artemis biopsy.