A population-based, screening-by-invitation trial has demonstrated that a combined MRI-guided plus standard biopsy approach is noninferior to standard biopsy with regard to the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer in men with increased prostate-specific antigen levels.

As technological advances have improved both feasibility and turnaround time, liquid biopsy has expanded tumor molecular analysis with acknowledgement of both spatial and temporal heterogeneity, overcoming many limitations of traditional tissue biopsy.

medwireNews : The US FDA has granted approval for the first liquid biopsy next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay, including as a specific companion diagnostic test for targeting use of osimertinib.

Patients who test negative with the liquid biopsy should be directed to routine biopsy and an approved tumour tissue test, the FDA advises.

The presence of circulating tumor DNA and circulating tumor cells in postsurgical samples is associated with relapse and poor outcomes in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer patients with an incomplete pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, research suggests.

Pre-biopsy multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging improves the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer in biopsy-naive patients but does not appear to remove the need for systematic biopsy, MRI-FIRST study data show.

Researcher Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou describes the findings of the prospective NILE study evaluating the clinical utility of genotyping cell-free DNA in patients with a new diagnosis of metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (3:21).

A combined approach using both MRI-targeted and systematic biopsy provides improved diagnostic accuracy for the detection of prostate cancer versus either strategy alone, say the Trio researchers.

Veeru Kasivisvanathan explains the background and clinical implications of the PRECISION trial, which tested whether using multiparametric MRI with a targeted biopsy was noninferior to standard transrectal ultrasonography–guided biopsy in the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer.

Prebiopsy multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging plus targeted biopsy is associated with increased detection of clinically significant prostate cancer versus ultrasonography-guided systematic biopsy alone, study data show.

Coker MA et al.  Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 2018; 21: 549–555.

Lebastchi Ah, Pinto PA. Nat Rev Urol 2019; 16: 276–277. doi:10.1038/s41585-019-0173-7 

Pre-biopsy multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging improves the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer in biopsy-naive patients but does not appear to remove the need for systematic biopsy, MRI-FIRST study data show.

Tumor-specific DNA can be retrieved from the aqueous humor of patients with retinoblastoma, say US researchers, allowing genetic analysis in patients who do not have a biopsy sample available.

In men at clinical risk for prostate cancer, a strategy involving multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging risk assessment followed by targeted biopsy is noninferior, and may even be superior, to standard transrectal ultrasonography-guided biopsy, say the PRECISION researchers.

Postema AW, Walz J, Wijkstra H. In: Imaging and Focal Therapy of Early Prostate Cancer. Edited by Polascik TJ. Springer International Publishing AG 2017. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-49911-6_19

Just under half of the prostate cancer cases were biopsy grade 1 (43%) and clinical stage T1 (45%), and all cases were screen detected.