Method of doing prostate biopsies for the diagnosis of prostate cancer - present and future
Dear NHS England,
I would like to ask what is the current practice in trusts in England of doing prostate biopsies for diagnosing or monitoring prostate cancer.
I would like to know
1. What is the current percentage of cases biopsied using a transrectal biopsy method and what is the percentage of cases biopsies using a transperineal route
2. If transperineal is this under General Anaesthetic (GA) or under Local Anaesthetic (LA)
3. Is there plans in the next 12-18 months to convert transrectal biopsies to transperineal - if so what proportion
4. How are LA transperineal biopsies done a.using a grid based approach b. using a bespoke device (please name) c. in planning and unsure
5. How are the biopsies done ( regardless of route) a. targeted to MRI lesions only b. Targeted to MRI lesion and systematic biopsies c. Systematic biopsies only
6. When targeting is used - how is this done a. cognitive b. by image fusion software or c. a hybrid
7. Will an image fusion system be introduced in your trust within the next 24 months
Yours faithfully,
Vincent Gnanapragasam
University of Cambridge
Dear Vincent Gnanapragasam,
Thank you for your communication dated 2 October 2019.
NHS England has assessed your communication as a request under the Freedom
of Information (FOI) Act 2000. As such, your request is being dealt with
under the terms of the FOI Act and has been allocated the following
reference number: FOI-060337.
Your exact request was:
“I would like to ask what is the current practice in trusts in England of
doing prostate biopsies for diagnosing or monitoring prostate cancer.
I would like to know
1. What is the current percentage of cases biopsied using a transrectal
biopsy method and what is the percentage of cases biopsies using a
transperineal route
2. If transperineal is this under General Anaesthetic (GA) or under Local
Anaesthetic (LA)
3. Is there plans in the next 12-18 months to convert transrectal biopsies
to transperineal - if so what proportion
4. How are LA transperineal biopsies done a.using a grid based approach b.
using a bespoke device (please name) c. in planning and unsure
5. How are the biopsies done ( regardless of route) a. targeted to MRI
lesions only b. Targeted to MRI lesion and systematic biopsies c.
Systematic biopsies only
6. When targeting is used - how is this done a. cognitive b. by image
fusion software or c. a hybrid
7. Will an image fusion system be introduced in your trust within the next
24 months”
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