Objective To explore the significance of clinical staging methods for prostate cancer before radical prostatectomy in the prediction of pathological stage, the selection of therapy, judgement of efficacy and the evaluation of prognosis. Methods Thirty-four patients with organ confined prostatic cancer were reviewed to compare the serum prostate specific antigen(PSA), Gleason score staging by biopsies, percentage of positive prostate biopsies staging, digital rectal examination(DRE) staging and magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) staging with the pathological staging results after radical prostatectomy. Results Pathological diagnosis by radical prostatectomy showed that 20 of 34(58.8%) patients with prostate cancer were in stage B, and 12 (35.3%) in stage C and 2 (5.9%) in stage D. All methods for cancer staging were significantly correlated with the pathological staging results ( P