What is a saturation biopsy?
A saturation biopsy is a technique in which multiple biopsies are dispersed in a systematic manner throughout the entire prostate gland, thereby ‘saturating’ the gland with sampling. Saturation biopsy is typically used for two purposes: (i) To detect cancers in men who continue to have a rising PSA or a markedly elevated PSA after negative traditional biopsies (ii) To better map the location and extent of prostate cancer in men with low-risk disease who are considering active surveillance or focal therapy Saturation biopsy may be conducted by a transrectal approach or through a transperineal approach. The transperineal technique is typically conducted under general anesthesia. Biopsy needles are inserted through the skin in the area between the scrotum and the anus. Typically, 60–100 cores are taken at a spacing of 5–10 mm. In the transrectal saturation technique, 20–36 cores are typically taken, depending on the physician’s preferred technique. At the Smilow Center, we use the transre
