Prognostic Factors in Radical Prostatectomy Specimens: What Do We Need to Know from Pathologists?

ContextPathologic information derived from the radical prostatectomy specimen contains powerful prognostic indicators that can be used to predict the patient's prognosis for disease-free survival and to decide what treatment a patient should receive; therefore, it is important to get the appropriate pathological information from the pathologist.ObjectiveThis review will concentrate on relevant prognostic factors in assessing radical prostatectomy specimens.Evidence acquisitionMedical literature was screened with PubMed for prognostic factors derived from radical prostatectomy specimens.Evidence synthesisPrognostic information from radical prostatectomy specimens should at least include Gleason score, pathologic stage, and margins status and should be clearly presented by the pathologist to the urologists. Other prognostic factors such as tumor volume, perineural invasion, maximum tumor diameter, percentage of high-grade tumor, and tertiary Gleason pattern are still under debate and require more study.ConclusionsThe urologist should be aware of and presented with those factors that are the most important ones for estimating prognosis after radical prostatectomy.