Pathologic staging of prostate carcinoma: What are the issues?

Visual estimation of the tumor volume in prostate cancer: a useful means for predicting biochemical-free survival after radical prostatectomy?

“…[11][12][13][14][15] Two successive studies guided by the Washington University School of Medicine (St Louis) confirmed the visually estimated relative tumor volume to be an independent parameter for predicting oncological outcome after radical prostatectomy. 11,21 A first smaller investigation with 73 patients was followed in 2000 by an investigation comprising 595 patients suffering from a clinically organ-limited prostate cancer who underwent radical prostatectomy.…”

“…6,9,10 In addition, there are considerable technical difficulties in determining the 'real' tumor volume in prostatectomy specimens owing to the uncertainty about which parameters should be measured (e.g., the total volume of all cancer foci, the volume of the biologically most significant lesion or combinations of these parameters) and how the measurements should be carried out. 11,12 Currently, computer-assisted morphometric approaches represent the 'Gold standard'; 6 however at present, these methods are time-and cost-intensive and the technical devices required are not always available. 11,[13][14][15] We investigated the prognostic impact of the visually estimated tumor volume with respect to its aptitude for predicting the PSA-free survival in a total of 528 patients treated by radical prostatectomy due to prostate cancer.…”

Positive apical surgical margins after radical retropubic prostatectomy, truth or artefact?

“…Within the pathological community there have been calls for a more uniform pathological staging system (32). An alternative explanation may be that a positive margin does not always reflect a significant volume of viable residual disease.…”

Recommendations for the reporting of prostate carcinoma

“…Features the Association recommends to be included in the final report because they are generally accepted as being of prognostic importance, required for therapy, and/or traditionally expected [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”