Dr. Crawford on Rebiopsying for Prostate Cancer

E. David Crawford, MD, professor, Urologic and Radiation Oncology, head, Section of Urologic Oncology, University of Colorado at Denver, discusses rebiopsying for prostate cancer.

Each year in the U.S., 1.3-1.4 million biopsies are performed for prostate cancer, with only 240,000 leading to diagnoses. Crawford says that these men were biopsied for a reason and the question lingers as to whether or not rebiopsy. The need for a test to determine which men should be rebiopsied may have been answered by the ConfirmMDx test.

These methylation tests look for DNA changes in normal tissue on a biopsy that potentially was around the cancer, Crawford says. If the test is negative and no genes are methylated, the physician is presented with a 90%-plus positive predictive value that the man does not have cancer. Crawford says that if they test is negative and the man does have cancer, typically it is low-grade and would not be treated anyway. Crawford says this test has “unbelievable reach.”

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