Background: Transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate needle biopsies are performed to diagnose prostate cancer. This study prospectively evaluated the safety, morbidity and complication rates with two different ultrasound probes.
Patients and methods: Three huntred and thirty-two patients were biopsied using a biplane 7.5 MHz probe (GE Medical Systems Kretz Ultrasound, Zipf, Austria) and 101 patients using a biplane 5-10 MHz probe (BK-Medical, Herlev, Denmark). Four weeks after the procedure the patients were asked to fill out a questionnaire.
Results: There were 3 major and 75 minor complications. The most common complication was haematuria in 8.1% of cases, followed by pain with urination in 5.3% of cases. After changing the ultrasound probe, the complication rates were slightly higher, but no statistical difference in any of the complication rates was found between the two groups.
Conclusions: Changing the method within the same team has no influence on complication rates and on prostate cancer detection rates.