Stage A prostate cancer from pathologist's viewpoint.

Four hundred sixty-five departments of pathology in the United States were asked the following questions pertaining to Stage A prostatic cancer: (1) If a focus of adenocarcinoma is incidentally found in an enucleated specimen, what is the maximum diameter such a lesion may attain and still be considered an A-1 prostatic carcinoma? (2) If adenocarcinoma is incidentally found in a specimen resected transurethrally, how many chips may contain tumor and the lesion still be considered A-1 prostatic carcinoma? (3) What is your "routine pathologic examination" of a prostatic specimen? The majority of pathologists believe that the maximum diameter of a focal (A-1) lesion in an enucleated specimen is 5 mm., and the maximum number of transurethral chips containing tumor in a focal (A-1) lesion is three. The majority of pathologists section every chip when the specimen weighs less than 10 Gm. However, only 12 per cent of the pathologists section every chip when the specimen is greater than 10 Gm., while the others use a random section technique. There is a great diversity of techniques among pathologists in their methods of examining enucleated prostatic specimens.