A multi-institutional clinical trial led by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators showed that a newer technique for collecting prostate biopsy samples reduced the risk of infection compared with traditional biopsy approaches. The results of the study were published Sept. 19 in JAMA Oncology.
The technique, called transperineal prostate biopsy, collects prostate tissue via a needle through the skin of the perineum, the area between the rectum and the scrotum. The procedure, which uses local anesthesia to numb the area, allows physicians to bypass the traditional and more infection-prone route of collecting prostate biopsy tissue with a needle through the rectum. The PReclude infection EVEnts with No prophylaxis Transperineal (PREVENT) trial, funded by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, was conducted at multiple sites, including NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Queens and NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.
The study found no infections among 382 men randomized to undergo the transperineal procedure compared with six infections affecting 1.6% of the 370 men randomized to undergo the traditional transrectal biopsy procedure. The lower infection rate is particularly remarkable because the men in the transrectal biopsy group received a targeted course of antibiotics designed to help reduce their infection risk, and the men in the transperineal group received no antib.