The incidence of prostate cancer is rising and great attention has to be paid when staging this malignant disease in order to avoid unnecessary surgery. Techniques for diagnosis by biopsy are by now standardised, but clinical staging has a high percentage of understaging (over 43%). Multiple sextant prostate biopsies involving the seminal vesicles and prostate capsule seem to be basic for current staging. These data associated with PSA, volume of the cancer and the Gleason score are the most objective and reliable parameters for correct clinical evaluation of prostate cancer.
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