[Advances in ultrasound techniques for the diagnosis and staging of prostate cancer. Elastography, Doppler ultrasound, ultrasound contrast media, ultrasound quantification media and MRI fusion]

Abstract

Objectives: Transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy remains the gold standard in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Various Ultrasound modalities have been proposed to increase the cancer detection rate. Our purpose is to evaluate each of these methods , and to present its current literature and clinical utility.

Method: A non structured review of the current literature was conducted over these different various ultrasound modalities used during the transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsied in the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Results: The data investigation of the various modalities associated sonographic features exhibits great heterogeneity and highly variable results. Some new techniques sampling present promising results with high sensitivity and specificity, thus increasing the diagnostic yield of transrectal biopsy. It seems that elastography shows encouraging figures, especially given the recent introduction of the "shearvawe" elastography that decreases the user-dependent factor.

Conclusions: The ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy has an acceptable sensitivity in the diagnosis of prostate cancer, but its specificity is still low. Various modalities associated with ultrasound are available in clinical practice in order to increase cancer detection rate. Although some promising data have been published for some of the modalities, we believe the combination of these includes validated ultrasound guided biopsy protocols to accurately target and diagnose prostate cancer.