Urologist's Impact on Needle Core Prostate Biopsy Histopathologic Variables Within a Single Institution

Objective: To assess the urologist's impact on prostate needle core biopsy variables including number of containers submitted, total core length, longest core length, and individual core length threshold values, and to elucidate the relationship between these variables and cancer detection rate within a recent cohort.

Methods: A retrospective search was performed to identify patients who had an extended transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate needle core biopsy between 2008 and 2013.

Results: One thousand one prostate biopsies were analyzed. Total core length (mean 13.2-22.9 cm, P < .001) significantly varied by submitting urologist but did not impact cancer detection rate per case. Increased core length per container impacted the cancer detection per container (P < .001). The number of cores that met threshold values of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 cm as well as longest individual core length (mean 1.7-2.2 cm) significantly varied between urologist (P < .001), although there was no association between these variables and cancer detection. Container number differed significantly between urologists (P < .001) but did not correlate with cancer detection. For the single urologist with a change in his submission protocol during the study period, a nonsignificant change in cancer detection was noted when comparing 12-14 containers vs 6-9 containers.

Conclusion: Submitting urologist significantly impacts prostate biopsy metrics. An increased amount of tissue per container was associated with higher rates of cancer per container. A nonsignificant change in cancer detection rate was observed when container number was reduced from 12-14 to 6-9.