Systematic prostate biopsy still matters: A comprehensive analysis of MRI/TRUS-fusion targeted prostate biopsies across different indications

To assess if a multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI)-targeted biopsy (TB) strategy is precise enough to replace systematic biopsies (SB) among men with different biopsy indications since an imaging-based pathway to guide indication and targeted prostate biopsy is currently under debate.Retrospective analysis was performed of 594 patients with one or more lesions according to Prostate Imaging and Reporting Data System (PI-RADS) receiving a consecutive TB and SB for one of the 3 indications: primary cancer suspicion (51.7%), persistent cancer suspicion after prior negative biopsy (35.4%), or control of a confirmed cancer (12.9%). Detection rates for overall cancer (CaP) and clinically significant cancer (csCaP, Gleason Score ≥3+4) were compared between TB and SB and to a combined approach for all patients and within the subgroups. Characteristics of cancers missed by one biopsy strategy were analyzed.TB detected less CaP (302 vs. 366, P0.001) and csCaP (204 vs. 210 patients, P = 0.409) compared to SB except for men with prior negative biopsies (65 vs. 64 csCaP, P = 0.363). Cancer detection by TB or SB was independent of cancer localization and imaging characteristics. Combined TB and SB outperformed the single approaches for CaP and csCaP detection in each subgroup.A single mpMRI and TB approach leads to a substantial number of missed CaP and csCaP across biopsies with different indications. Ongoing improvements of imaging, reading standardization, and biopsy techniques are required before replacing SB.