What clinically useful information should be included in the pathology report on a prostate needle core biopsy? Are there specific microscopic findings useful when assessing cancer staging?

Abstract

Prostate needle core biopsy (PNB) can generate a great deal of information that is useful for assessing the prognosis of prostate cancer and providing essential guidance for successful therapeutic interventions such as radical prostatectomy. If a PNB is positive for adenocarcinoma, the following information should be provided in the pathology report: (1) location of the carcinoma, usually indicated in each part (location); (2) Gleason score (not a single grade) in each core (even for a small focus); (3) the number of positive cores of the total cores examined for each part or side; (4) the percentage of adenocarcinoma in each core and the highest percentage of a single core; (5) the presence of perineural invasion or extraprostatic extension; (6) special features of adenocarcinoma, such as neuroendocrine differentiation and ductal differentiation; and (7) immunohistochemical staining results if available. All these measures can be obtained on visual inspection without a micrometer.