Recent trends in gleason grading of prostate cancer. II. Prognosis, reproducibility and reporting.

Gleason grading of prostate cancer is the most important histopathologic predictor of prognosis. In recent years, a number of changes have been made in how Gleason grading is performed and reported. A consensus conference was organized in 2005 by the International Society of Urological Pathology for the purpose of standardizing both the perception of histologic patterns and how the grade information is compiled and reported. The recommendations regarding reporting are summarized and discussed in this review. The prognostic importance of the Gleason score, its reproducibility and its role in preoperative assessment are also discussed.