Assessment of prostatic size with computed tomography. Methodologic aspects.

The prostatic gland can be easily demonstrated on CT scans and its volume has been estimated using the ellipsoid formula. In 32 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia calculated volumes were compared with the weight of the adenomas resected at open surgery. A good correlation was found (r = 0.89) with an average residual error of 12 g. The method is considered valuable for preoperative assessment of the prostatic size and useful as a non-invasive method to evaluate changes in prostatic volume following different types of non-surgical treatment.