ULTRASOUND-GUIDED SEMINAL-VESICLE BIOPSIES IN MEN WITH SUSPECTED PROSTATE-CANCER

Purpose: The histology of ultrasound guided seminal vesicle biopsies i s assessed and the results are correlated with clinical or pathologica l stage of prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: A total of 517 cons ecutive men underwent bilateral (515) or unilateral (2) seminal vesicl e biopsy during sextant biopsy of the prostate. Results: Seminal vesic le epithelium and muscularis were identified in 490 of 1,032 biopsy sp ecimens (47%) and smooth muscle consistent with seminal vesicle muscul aris was identified in 393 (38%). The seminal vesicle biopsy was posit ive for cancer in 7 of 123 patients (6%) with clinical stages T1c and T2 tumors, 27 of 60 (45%) with stages T3 to 4 disease and 9 of 13 (69% ) with metastatic cancer. Of 39 patients who underwent radical prostat ectomy 1 of 36 (3%) without and 0 of 3 (0%) with seminal vesicle invas ion had a positive seminal vesicle biopsy. Conclusions: Seminal vesicl e epithelium and muscularis or smooth muscle consistent with the semin al vesicle muscularis can be procured in most patients using contempor ary ultrasound guided biopsy techniques. However, apparently false-neg ative seminal vesicle biopsies are not uncommon and seminal vesicle bi opsies contribute little to the staging of Tie and T2 tumors.