Table 1.

Study characters of RCTs comparing TP and TR prostate biopsy

Study	Age	Study population	Patients		PSA level		Prostate volume		Biopsy methods
			TP group	TR group	TP group	TR group	TP group	TR group
Hara et al., 2008, Japan [21]	71	Patients with a PSA level of 4.0 to 20.0 ng/mL from 2003.5 to 2005.10	126	120	8.34	8.48	33.2	36	Systematic 12-core biopsy
Takenaka et al., 2008, Japan [22]	71 in TP group, 72 in TR group	Consecutive patients with an elevated PSA level (> 4 ng/mL)	100	100	17.1	19.6	34.5	37.2	Systematic 12-core biopsy
Cerruto et al., 2014, Italy [23]	66.5 in TP group, 67.3 in TR group	Consecutive patients with a PSA > 4 ng/mL	54	54	15.95	12.36	56.29	61.49	Systematic 14-core initial prostatic biopsy
Guo et al., 2015, China [20]	67	Patients between 2012.6 and 2014.8 with a PSA > 4.0 ng/ml	173	166	8.81	10.48	47.2	45.9	Systematic 12-core biopsy

Abbreviations: TP transperineal, TR transrectal, PSA prostate-specific antigen