http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17352535/
More than a million U.S. men get prostate biopsies each year. The tests
find more than 200,000 tumors, meaning many cancer-free men get unneeded
biopsies.
Studies estimate that the test fails to find the tumor in 20 percent to 33
percent of men who have one, usually because the needles sample only bits
of the gland.
"With less than 1 percent of the prostate sampled, we're trying to get the
pathologist to tell us if the guy has cancer or not, which is an
impossible task," said Garzotto. So doctors recommend second biopsies a
few months after a clean test.
To narrow the need for repeat tests, Garzotto and co-workers studied 511
patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he works. All the
men had clear initial prostate biopsies. But 112 were later found to have
cancer, 52 of them aggressive tumors that can be deadly.
"I feel more comfortable now about recommending repeat biopsies to this
(high-risk) group," he said.
Men with the highest PSA densities were much more likely to later be
diagnosed with aggressive cancers than men with lower scores in an Oregon
study, even though both groups had clean prostate biopsies.
If it survives scientific review, it could help save the lives of men with
serious cancers and avoid repeated biopsies in others.
A possible test for the outcome
Another simple test may identify which men with advanced prostate cancer
have the worst outlook, according to a different OHSU study presented at
the Florida conference.
Men with the highest PSA densities were much more likely to later bediagnosed with aggressive 
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