Diagnostic Center For Disease: Prostate Biopsy Spreads Prostate Cancer Cells

Main Category: Prostate / Prostate Cancer
Also Included In: Urology / Nephrology;  Men's health;  MRI / PET / Ultrasound
Article Date: 20 Feb 2008 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Breaking news from the Diagnostic Center for Disease(TM) in Sarasota, Florida, identifies a previously underestimated risk that routine prostate biopsy performed to evaluate for prostate cancer spreads cancer cells and may be the reason that men have a recurrence of disease many years after the prostate was removed successfully with clear surgical margins. Traditionally, an ultrasound and prostate biopsy is commonly recommended and performed by Urologists when a patient presents with a prostate specific antigen (PSA) of 2.5 ng/ml or above. Men have been told for years that the procedure is safe and the only way to diagnose prostate cancer. While this paradigm represents the current standard, the system exposes far too many men to needless biopsies; as the number one reason PSA rises is prostatitis, not prostate cancer. Still other men may have a small cancer that is missed based on the inability of this standard procedure to target a suspected lesion in question (sampling error). Regardless of the rationale for a biopsy, all men suffer the potential risk for bleeding, scarring, infection or sepsis and needless intrusion that has reportedly resulted in impotency and/or incontinence in some patients. A more important issue that is often not discussed between physician and patient involves the possibility of "needle tracking", the very real possibility of spreading cancer cells beyond the prostate when a biopsy is performed. An extensive review of the literature confirms that once a needle penetrates the capsule of an organ, a phenomenon called "needle tracking" takes place. When the needle is withdrawn from the targeted organ, the chance of spreading cancer cells (when encountered) establishes itself, and every puncture of the prostate adds to this risk. Despite the significance of this risk to the patient, physicians generally fail to acknowledge a process that allows cells to lie dormant or incubate for up to 10 years or more regardless of the treatment rendered. In a 2 billion dollar prostate biopsy industry, the phenomenon of "needle tracking" takes place approximately 20-30 percent of the time. This coincides with the frequency that ultrasound and biopsy encounters a cancer, suggesting that 70- 80 percent of biopsies are performed unnecessarily.

A recent evaluation of data from patients with a positive MRI-S scan at the Diagnostic Center for Disease(TM) found 75 percent of biopsies performed yielded a cancer, allowing men without cancer to avoid a biopsy procedure. This is a quantum leap from the blind biopsy approach enabling the potential savings of millions of dollars to the healthcare industry. The secret to success involved the use of a 3.0 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging Spectroscopy scan (MRI -S) which predicted and confirmed the presence of prostate cancer. This technology, featured at the Diagnostic Center for Disease(TM), represents the most sensitive and specific diagnostic modality for the prostate evaluation in the world, replacing substandard scanning procedures like PET scan, CAT scan and Prostascint scans. The MRI -S at 3.0 Tesla allows imaging of the entire prostate, thereby, creating a roadmap; thereby, allowing selective targeting of specific areas of interest for biopsy when indicated. In many cases, a biopsy is not recommended at all as no cancer is found. Furthermore, this methodology allows for fewer biopsies versus the "shot in the dark" 12-24 core biopsy approach or the saturation biopsy, thereby minimizing risk to the patient in the event a lesion is isolated, a specific protocol is implemented to prevent cells from proliferating; in effect, causing cells to become weakened, disabled and die through a process called apoptosis.

This protocol is unique to the Diagnostic Center for Disease(TM). The Center's success with the MRI-S scan is further magnified by de-selecting men with an elevated PSA who don't have prostate cancer but rather have prostatitis, a non-bacterial inflammatory disease; the primary reason PSA rises. In these instances, the Center's physicians encourage the use of an internationally patented formula to decrease and/or normalize the PSA in patients without evidence of prostate cancer. While the literature suggests that all men will get prostate cancer if they live long enough, there is no reason to accelerate the process or undergo a premature biopsy, where the patient assumes all of the risk. To reiterate, a 3.0 Tesla MRI-S scan creates a roadmap to guide targeted biopsies to the specific region of interest while avoiding areas that fail to exhibit the "fingerprint" of disease. At the Diagnostic Center for Disease(TM), physicians recognize that better imaging enables an improved opportunity to diagnose disease while ensuring a better, more predictable outcome.

A recent case of a 71-year-old man illustrates the benefit of the 3.0 Telsa MRI -S. In 1997, his PSA was measured at 3.7 ng/ml. Presumed to be normal, the PSA was not tested again until 2001, when it was 7.2 ng/ml-well above the 4.0 ng/ml level of concern. A biopsy using a traditional ultrasound evaluation resulted in eight negative cores. The following year, the patient's PSA was 11.5 ng/ml. This time, in addition to the gray scale ultrasound, physicians used color flow doppler (CFD) to isolate areas of blood flow, important to prostate cancer growth. Despite the use of CFD to target areas of interest, the biopsy results were once again negative. Frustrated, the patient turned to the 3.0 T MRI -S scan. Despite a lack of evidence for cancer on the physical examination of the prostate, the scan located a discreet, well- defined 4.5 mm lesion deep within the peripheral zone of the mid-prostate on the left side. Subsequently, five targeted biopsies identified an aggressive cancer. Having established that the cancer was organ confined with no evidence of spread to the surrounding tissue, the patient was now able to focus on viable treatment options.

"Men who have an elevated PSA and want to avoid an unnecessary prostate biopsy now have an alternative to a blind biopsy," states Ronald Wheeler, M.D., the Medical Director at the center. Additionally, men who want a second opinion when the previous biopsy was negative can now go to the only imaging center in the world that is dedicated exclusively to the diagnosis and treatment of prostate disease.

Diagnostic Center for Disease
http://www.mrisusa.com