To describe changes in the use of prostate biopsy techniques among men diagnosed with prostate cancer in Australia and New Zealand and examine factors associated with these changes.
We extracted data between 2015 and 2019 from 7 jurisdictions of the Australia and New Zealand Prostate Cancer Outcomes Registry (PCOR-ANZ). Distribution and time trend of transrectal (TR) vs. transperineal (TP) biopsy type, differences in the proportion of biopsy type by geographic jurisdiction, diagnosing institute characteristics (public vs. private, metropolitan vs. regional, case volume) and patient characteristics such as socio-economic status (SES), and location of residence were analyzed.
We analyzed data from 37,638 patients. The overall proportion of prostate cancer diagnosed by TP increased from 26% to 57% between 2015 and 2019. Patients living in a major city, a more socioeconomically advantaged area or who were diagnosed in a metropolitan or private hospital were more likely to have TP than TR. While all subgroups were observed to increase their use of TP over the study period, uptake grew faster for men from low SES areas and those diagnosed at a regional or low-volume hospital but slower for men living in outer regional/remote areas or treated at a public hospital.
In this binational registry, prostate cancer is now more commonly diagnosed by TP than the TR approach. While the gap between uptakes of TP has diminished for patients with low vs. high SES, disparity has widened for patients from outer regional areas vs major cities and public vs. private hospitals.
Urologic oncology. 2023 May 30 [Epub ahead of print]
Michael E O' Callaghan, Matthew Roberts, Jeremy Grummet, Stephen Mark, Daniel Gilbourd, Mark Frydenberg, Jeremy Millar, Nathan Papa, Prostate Cancer Outcomes Registry – ANZ.)
Urology Unit, Flinders Medical Centre, South Australia, Australia; College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, South Australia, Australia; Discipline of Medicine, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. Electronic address: ., Department of Urology, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Queensland, Australia; University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Faculty of Medicine, Queensland, Australia., Alfred Health, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Victoria, Australia; Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Victoria, Australia., Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand., Department of Urology, The Canberra Hospital, Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia., Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; Australian Urology Associates, Melbourne, Australia., Alfred Health and School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia., School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Victoria, Australia.