Table 2.
Study characters of observational studies comparing TP and TR prostate biopsy
| Study | Age | Study design | Study population | Patients | PSA level | Prostate volume | Biopsy methods | Covariates | NOS score | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TR group | TP group | TR group | TP group | TR group | TP group | |||||||
| Emiliozzi et al., 2002, Italy [16] | 68 | Cohort study | Patients with a PSA > 4 ng/ml between 2000.4 and 2001.5 | 107 | 8.2 | NA | Six transperineal cores plus six transrectal cores | Self-control | 9 | |||
| Watanabe et al., 2005, Japan [32] | 72.5 | Cohort study | Patients with clinically suspicious prostatic irregularities between 1995.1 and 2001.12 | 402 | 10.3 | NA | Combined 6-core transperineal and 6-core transrectal biopsies | Self-control | 9 | |||
| Abdollah et al., 2010, Italy [19] | 66.3 | Cohort study | Patients who underwent a rebiopsy between 2005.9 and 2008.6 | 140 | 140 | 9.7 | 10 | 65.4 | 62.3 | Ultrasound-guided saturate prostate rebiopsy | Age, PSA, PV, DRE, histologic findings on previous biopsy, the number of previous negative biopsy sets | 8 |
| Tian et al., 2014, China [31] | 63 in TP group, 64 in TR group | Cohort study | Patients who underwent a biopsy between 2007.8 and 2012.7 | 175 | 137 | 1.91–112.52 | 1.45–108.27 | 59.5 | 62.4 | Ultrasound-guided systematic prostate biopsy | Age, PSA, DRE findings, PV | 7 |
| Yuan et al., 2014, China [13] | 66 | Cohort study | Patients who underwent a biopsy between 2009.1 and 2014.1 | 59 | 97 | 21.2 | 19.7 | 33.7 | 35.8 | Ultrasound-guided systematic prostate biopsy | Age, PSA, PV | 7 |
| Pepe et al., 2016, Italy [18] | 61 | Cohort study | Patients persistently suspicious of PCa between 2015.1 and 2016.1 | 200 | 8.6 | NA | mpMRI/TRUS fusion-targeted biopsy | Self-control | 9 | |||
| Franco et al., 2017, Italy [17] | 68 in TP group, 66 in TR group | Cohort study | Random patients that received a prostate biopsy between 2004 and 2014 | 108 | 111 | 7.8 | 6.9 | NA | Ultrasound-guided systematic sextant prostate biopsy | Age, PSA, PSA ratio (F/T), DRE/TRUS findings, LUTS, BPH, biopsy cores, complications | 7 | |
Abbreviations: TP transperineal, TR transrectal, PSA prostate-specific antigen, PV prostate volume, DRE digital rectal examination, PSA ratio F/T free PSA/total PCA, TRUS transrectal ultrasonography, LUTS lower urinary tract syndrome, BPH benign prostate hyperplasia, NA not available