The impact of pre-procedural waiting period and anxiety level on pain perception in patients undergoing transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy.

PURPOSE To investigate the effect of pre-procedural waiting period and anxiety level on pain perception during transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty patients who had undergone transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy were enrolled in this prospective study. The subjects were asked to fill out the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale-1 to measure the level of state anxiety at three times: 1) at the time of the procedure request, 2) before the procedure, and 3) before getting the result. Just after biopsy, the patients were asked to fill out a visual analog scale to evaluate pain perception resulting from the biopsy. RESULTS The mean pre-procedural level of state anxiety score was well correlated with the visual analog scale score (r=0.498; P < 0.001). The mean level of state anxiety scores before biopsy (39.7±9.4) and before getting the result (39.9±8.4) were significantly higher than the mean level of state anxiety score when the procedure was requested (31.4±7.9) (P < 0.001 for both). The patient group was divided into two subgroups according to the waiting time between the request and the procedure itself; the cut-off value between the short and long groups was 10 days. The difference between the mean visual analog scale scores from transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy patients with the short (n=23, 1.49±0.95) and long (n=37, 2.35±1.12) waiting periods was statistically significant (P = 0.003). CONCLUSION In conclusion, performing the transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy procedure as soon as possible and using more effective anesthetic methods, especially for patients with high level of state anxiety scores, may have a positive impact on patient tolerance.