Radical prostatectomy specimen processing: A critical appraisal of sampling methods

SummaryRadical prostatectomy gives the most accurate and detailed information available for determining prognosis and deciding about adjuvant therapy for prostate cancer. The consistency and reproducibility of observations from these specimens requires a standardised protocol for tissue fixation, sampling, embedding and processing. Although the publication of processing protocols in recent years has led to a convergence of opinions, differences still exist in methods of handling, sampling and processing specimens. In this review article, we incorporate the processing methods for radical prostatectomy addressed in the previous reports and propose a comprehensively standardised approach to evaluate radical prostatectomy specimens.