The Role of Virtual Touch Tissue Quantification Technique in Differentiating Between Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia and Prostatic Carcinoma

Keywords: Prostate cancer; benign prostatic hyperplasia; trans-abdominal ultrasound; virtual touch tissue quantification Introduction In a study assessing the incidence and mortality rates of 36 cancer types around the world, PCa was identified as the second most common form of cancer and the fifth most common cause of cancer-related death (1), with an increasing incidence due to improved survival and rapid advances in diagnostic imaging modalities for the detection of tumors (2). Materials and Methods This study was approved by the local ethics committee of our hospital, and signed informed consent forms were obtained from all participants. The reason why we chose the nodules over 1 cm was to minimize the effect of the contrast and spatial resolution disadvantage of trans-abdominal examination on the study result and to allow optimum elastographic measurement. Tissue samples were obtained from patients using a simultaneous extended biopsy technique (10-12 quadrants), and the biopsies were performed using a DC-3 Mindray Ultrasound device (model 2009-2010, Shantou, China) using 6 CV1 micro convex transducers with high frequency (5-8 MHz), with the physician being