Prostate cancer is considered one of the most common cancers occurring in men after middle age. Particularly, prostate cancer is a disease where regular check-ups and accurate diagnosis are paramount, as it presents with almost no early symptoms. In this process, prostate biopsy is a crucial step for confirming cancer, and depending on the biopsy method, diagnostic accuracy and patient burden can vary significantly.
Conventional prostate biopsy primarily involved referring only to ultrasound images and randomly sampling multiple areas within the prostate. However, such random biopsies carry the risk of missing actual cancerous lesions. Consequently, this method had limitations, often necessitating re-biopsies or leading to increased patient pain and burden due to unnecessary tissue collection.
Recently, to overcome these limitations, MR Fusion targeted biopsy, which combines MRI and ultrasound images, is being utilized. MR Fusion biopsy is a method that combines suspicious lesion information identified in pre-scanned MRI with real-time ultrasound images to precisely target suspected cancerous areas for tissue sampling. In this process, AI-based auto-calibration technology is applied, ensuring that the MRI lesion location and ultrasound image accurately align in real time. Unlike the conventional method of randomly puncturing 12 sites, this approach targets actual lesions, significantly increasing the likelihood of detecting deep-seated or small cancers.
Another strength of MR Fusion biopsy is that it incorporates the S-Fusion™ system, which has been recognized as a new medical technology. This equipment automatically segments the prostate, and AI real-time corrects for prostate deformation that may occur during the ultrasound examination. Through this, it can accurately implement the prostate's shape in 3D and precisely identify lesion locations spatially. This technological foundation is leading to actual clinical outcomes. According to research, MR Fusion targeted biopsy is reported to reduce diagnostic errors by approximately 60% compared to conventional random biopsy.
Clinically, too, the performance of MR Fusion biopsy is clearly evident. While the prostate cancer detection rate of conventional biopsy remained at 25-35%, MR Fusion targeted biopsy showed a detection rate of approximately 71.4%, achieving more than double the accuracy. Especially in high-grade risk prostate cancer, the diagnostic performance is even superior, greatly helping to reduce unnecessary follow-ups or re-biopsies.
Director Kim Jae-woong of Goldman Urology Clinic Gangnam Branch stated, "Prostate cancer is a disease where treatment outcomes and quality of life vary significantly depending on when and how it is discovered and diagnosed. MR Fusion biopsy, which targets precise lesions rather than random ones, is becoming the new standard for prostate cancer diagnosis." He added, "If prostate cancer is suspected or an abnormal PSA level is detected, it is paramount to diagnose it early through a more precise biopsy and establish a treatment plan."