Every year, approximately 1 million men worldwide are diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is one of the fastest growing areas in the last fifteen years. Stating that the desired success has not been achieved for many years due to technical imperfections in prostate gland imaging, Urology Specialist, Op. Dr Tolga Muharrem Okutucu said: “Thanks to the Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging (mpMRI) method, we can now take high-quality images of the prostate just like other organs. This precision is very important because it can show us not only healthy tissue, but also cancerous tissue, so we know better where to look for the disease before performing a biopsy in patients with suspected tumor due to examination and high PSA.”
Kiss. Dr. Tolga Muharrem Okutucu continued: “While there is no proven effect of diet and lifestyle changes, it is believed that reducing dietary animal fats and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption can have positive effects. While the history and examination of the patient are still our most valuable tools in diagnosis and treatment, advances in laboratory testing and imaging methods enable us to obtain satisfactory results and pave the way for new developments.”
Accurate diagnosis with Mr-TRUS fusion biopsy of the prostate
Okutucu stated that the targeted smart biopsy method is very effective in the early diagnosis of prostate cancer, saying biopsies that should be performed in a targeted way thus increasing the accuracy of the diagnosis.) It is a fusion biopsy method. It is based on the principle of combining the MR images of the patient’s prostate with the ultrasound data with a software program, obtaining a 3D image and taking a biopsy with a special biopsy robot. In the classical biopsy method, several biopsies are taken from the patients at the standard points determined under the guidance of ultrasound. On the other hand, MR-TRUS Fusion biopsy is a method that allows to make a specific prostate mapping for each patient, to predetermine the areas of high tumor suspicion and to take biopsy directly from these points.
The system has been implemented in Turkey for the past 7-8 years.
Okutucu said the first trials of Prostate MR-TRUS Fusion Biopsy began in the US in the early 2000s, saying, “The first devices that work on this principle were approved in 2005. The technology we use today is in Approved by the FDA in 2008 and new technologies are still being developed.”
A method that can be easily applied even in office conditions: targeted MR TRUS fusion biopsy
Saying, “The points of high tumor risk are displayed in the patient with mpMRI, and the biopsy needle is guided directly to these areas under ultrasound guidance,” Okutucu said, “thus minimizing the possibility of sample abnormalities and errors. Again, this method allows biopsies to be taken from areas where it is technically difficult to collect samples, reduces the need for repeat biopsies, and provides clinically accurate diagnosis of high-risk tumors.
MR TRUS fusion biopsy paved the way for the classification of suspicious lesions in the prostate according to their clinical significance. This gave rise to the idea that in the future only tumors that pose a high risk to the patient could be treated. These technologies will make the follow-up of tumors of low clinical importance safer and healthier and may contribute to the success of focal treatments in low-risk patients in the future.”
Urology specialist, who emphasized that early and accurate diagnosis, timely and appropriate surgical treatment is life-saving in urologic cancers, Op. Dr. Tolga Muharrem Okutucu concluded by saying, “Minimally invasive surgical applications such as Robotic Radical Prostatectomy are developing and changing rapidly, and the success rates of these treatments are increasing.”