PURPOSE: To investigate actual intraprostatic location of higher graded tumor foci undetected via standard transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy amongst patients who would be clinically considered appropriate candidates for active surveillance (AS) but underwent radical prostatectomy (RP).
METHODS: We reviewed entirely-submitted and whole-mounted RP specimens from 169 men who were deemed appropriate for AS clinically, but opted for RP and were found to have higher grade tumors. For each case, tumor nodules were circled and color-coded in a grade-specific manner and digitally scanned to created tumor maps. The locations of tumor foci with Gleason grade ≥4 were stratified by specific sites: anterior, anterolateral, lateral only (not clearly anterior or posterior), posterior, and posterolateral area.
RESULTS: Of 169 patients, 86% had clinical stage T1c and 14% T2a. RP Gleason score 7 in all but two men. Higher-grade tumor foci were localized to: anterior (n=66, 39%), anterolateral (n=4, 2%), lateral only (not clearly anterior or posterior) (n=5, 3%), posterior (n=52, 31%), and posterolateral (n=42, 25%) prostate, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Among patients deemed clinically appropriate for AS, higher-grade tumor foci missed by standard prostate biopsies were localized to both the anterior and posterior prostate, without predominance of a particular area. These findings lend additional support to performing repeat standard prostate biopsy in potential candidates for AS and should be considered in efforts to optimize current biopsy strategies for the selection of AS patients.
Written by:
Hong SK1, Eastham JA2, Fine SW3 Are you the author?
1Department of Urology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea ; Urology Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA. 2Urology Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA ; Department of Urology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA. 3Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
Reference: Prostate Int. 2013;1(4):152-7. (Epub 2013 Dec 30)
doi: 10.12954/PI.13029
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 24392439
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