Unsuspected carcinoma of the prostate in suprapubic prostatectomy specimens.A clinicopathological study of 55 consecutive cases

Abstract

ARCINOMA of the prostate is found in su-C prapubic prostatectomy specimens approximately 5 times each year at our hospital. Almost invariably this is clinically unsuspected carcinoma and in a sense represents an error of preoperative diagnosis. When this occurs the surgeon is faced with a therapeutic decision and must consider castration, estrogen administration, secondary radical prostatectomy, or perhaps no further therapy. The individual urologist has only a limited personal experience with this clinical situation. He must, therefore, rely upon the results of collected studies for guidance in therapy. We are unaware of any published series of cases with long term follow-up in which the various factors bearing on prognosis have been evaluated. This study is concerned with the clinicopathological findings in patients in this category and with the correlation of these findings with survival. There is a significant correlation between pathological findings and clinical outcome that should influence further therapy.