M. Scott Lucia, MD

M. Scott Lucia, MD

University of Colorado, Denver

Aurora, Colorado

M. Scott Lucia, MD, is Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Pathology and Director of Anatomic Pathology and of the Prostate Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (UCAMC) School of Medicine. He also serves as the Director of the Prostate Cancer Research Laboratories at UCAMC and of the UCAMC Biorepository Core Facility. Dr. Lucia received his MD from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1988. He completed his internship and residency in pathology at the University of Colorado in 1993. He was a research fellow in the Laboratory of Chemoprevention at the National Institutes of Health from 1993 to 1995, before returning to the University of Colorado in 1995.

Dr. Lucia served as the primary pathologist for the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) and Vitamin E and Selenium Chemoprevention Trial (SELECT), sponsored by the Southwest Oncology Group; the Medical Therapy of Prostate Symptoms (MTOPS) trial, sponsored by the NIDDK; and the Reduction with Dutasteride of Clinical Progression Events in Expectant Management of Prostate Cancer (REDEEM), sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline. He directs the operation of several tissue and serum biorepositories for prostate and prostatic diseases, including those for the PCPT, MTOPS, SELECT, and the University of Colorado Cancer Center Prostate Biorepository. He has authored or co-authored over 180 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, editorials, and book chapters. His primary areas of interest include pathology of prostate cancer and hyperplasia, early detection and prevention of prostate cancer, prostate cancer biomarkers, and mechanisms of carcinogenesis.

Talks by M. Scott Lucia, MD

Pathologist’s Perspective on Biopsy Results: Transperineal Mapping vs. Fusion Biopsy

Posted by | Apr 2022

M. Scott Lucia, MD, Professor and Vice-Chair of the Department of Pathology and Director of Anatomic Pathology of the Prostate Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (CAMC) School of Medicine, compares transperineal mapping and MRI-targeted fusion biopsy to systematic biopsy for identifying prostate cancer. He explains that there is overwhelming data indicating that 12-core systematic biopsy is only about 50-65% accurate. Dr. Lucia also notes that TRUS-guided transrectal biopsy is inaccurate, often missing and under-grading significant tumors. He then introduces transperineal template-guided mapping biopsies (TTMB) as a potentially superior alternative, explaining that the PROMIS Trial demonstrated that template biopsy consistently outperforms systematic biopsy and also highlighting that template biopsy has greater concordance with results from prostatectomy. Dr. Lucia says that another option is MRI-targeted fusion biopsy, which the PRECISION trial found to have more accurate detection than systematic biopsy. He also notes that the combination of fusion biopsy and systematic biopsy performs better than either one alone. Dr. Lucia then poses the question of whether MRI-targeted fusion biopsy or TTMB is superior, and he considers data on this from several studies. He concludes: that traditional transrectal biopsy schemes are inaccurate for identifying significant cancer; that TTMB and MRI-guided targeted biopsy offer improved pathological accuracy over TRUS-guided biopsy; that TTMB offer improved pathological accuracy over MRI-fusion biopsies; and that combined systematic biopsy and MRI-guided biopsy is useful for determining eligibility for focal therapy.

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Pathologist’s Perspective on Focal Therapy

Pathologist’s Perspective on Focal Therapy

Posted by | Apr 2021

M. Scott Lucia, MD, Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Pathology and Director of Anatomic Pathology of the Prostate Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (CAMC) School of Medicine reviews study data to help physicians decide which biopsy route is best when selecting patients for focal therapy. Using results from the SEER, PROMIS, and PRECISION studies, among others, he argues that TRUS biopsies are insufficient and miss too many high-grade tumors, while TTMP plus mpMRI guided biopsy appears to provide the most accurate results.

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Progress in Prostate Cancer Grading

Progress in Prostate Cancer Grading

Posted by | Jul 2019

M. Scott Lucia, MD, reviews the historical utilization of the Gleason grading score as an indicator of prostate cancer prognosis and the refinements the system has undergone to improve predictive accuracy. He examines changes to the grading of cribriform carcinoma, as well as an improved 5-tier grade classification system.

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Pathologist’s Perspective on Focal Therapy

Pathologist’s Perspective on Focal Therapy

Posted by | Jun 2019

M. Scott Lucia, MD, defines the ideal candidate for targeted focal therapy of the prostate. He discusses the limitations of transrectal ultrasound- and multiparametric MRI-guided biopsies for determining focal therapy eligibility, as well as evidence regarding template-guided transperitoneal mapping biopsies for improved tumor assessment.

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