When it comes to successfully treating men with prostate cancer, making as accurate a diagnosis as possible is critical. The team of urologists at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital (USC-VHH) offers men who need to be evaluated for prostate cancer a technology called MRI/ultrasound fusion-guided biopsy.

Biopsies for prostate cancer involve taking small samples of tissue from the prostate gland to determine the presence of cancer. Traditionally, these biopsies were performed blindly and randomly, a technique that didn’t always provide doctors will the most accurate picture of a patient’s actual disease burden.

The urologists at USC-VHH use a technique that fuses two types of imaging. Patients undergo an MRI, which can identify the parts of the prostate gland that appear abnormal and that are most important to biopsy. Later, that imaging is combined with live ultrasound, which guides urologists to the locations on the prostate that should be biopsied based on the findings of the MRI.

These so-called targeted biopsies fuse two types of images and will become the new gold standard, predicts Amir Lebastchi, M.D., a urologist with USC Urology, part of Keck Medicine of USC, and an assistant professor of clinical urology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

“We have a state-of-the-art fusion system at USC-VHH,” said Lebastchi, who sees patients at USC-VHH. “The MRI-ultrasound fusion is the best available technology and is not widely available yet.”

Better biopsies help the urologists at USC-VHH determine the two most important factors in developing a treatment plan for patients. Studies have shown the superiority of this type of prostate biopsy to accurately determine the aggressiveness of the cancer. It also does a better job at locating the cancer within the prostate, which helps surgeons create an effective treatment plan for the individual patient.

The team at USC-VHH is also using a new approach to performing the actual biopsy called a transperineal biopsy, which reduces the chance of infection during biopsy and eliminates the need to take antibiotics. This technique, in which the needle passes through the perineal skin rather than the rectal wall, reduces the risk of infection to nearly zero and avoids the development of antibiotic resistance.

“Our goal is to give our patients the best possible outcomes and offering the newest techniques and technology will help us achieve this goal,” Lebastchi said.

        To get more information or to make an appointment at USC-VHH, call (818) 790-7100 or visit USCVHH.org.