OBJECTIVE: To establish that the percentage of positive core biopsy for prostate cancer is correlated with transrectal ultrasound prostate volume, pathological stage and grade.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We presented our experience with 47 patients (mean age 65.74 years) with clinically localized prostate cancer who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy. All patients underwent transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy of the prostate. Multiple cores ranging between 6 - 20 with a mean of 12 were taken and sent for histopathologic studies. Percentage of cores positive for prostate cancer was computed and correlated with the transrectal ultrasound volume of the prostate, pathologic tumor stage and Gleason score.

RESULTS: Correlation of prostate volume with the percentage of positive core biopsy using Pearson's correlation was insignificant having a p-value of 0.197 with the level of significance set at 0.05. Tumor stage and Gleason score were positively correlated with the percentage of positive biopsy core using the Spearman's correlation having p-values of 0.003 and 0.042, respectively, with the level of significance set at 0.05.

CONCLUSION: As the percentage of positive core biopsy increases, tumor stage and Gleason score also increase. Prostatic volume showed no correlation with the percentage of positive biopsy core.

Prostatectomy ; Biopsy ; Prostatic Neoplasms