The digital rectal examination (DRE) remains important - outcomes from a contemporary cohort of men undergoing an initial 12-18 core prostate needle biopsy.

Abstract

Almost 50% of men in our cohort diagnosed with prostate cancer had an abnormal DRE. While only 14% of all patients with prostate cancer had an isolated DRE abnormality, 31% of these men had normal age-specific PSA values. Such observations underscore the importance of the DRE for prostate cancer screening.