GRADE, SURGICAL MARGINS, AND EXTRAPROSTATIC EXTENSION: APPLICATION OF A NEW PRACTICAL METHOD FOR TUMOR EXTENT EVALUATION

Purpose: To evaluate a new method designed for estimating the tumor extent in radical prostatectomy specimens. The tumor extent was correlated to preoperative PSA and to several patho-logic findings in the surgical specimens as well. Materials and Methods: Tumor extent was estimated in 118 consecutive radical prostatectomies through a simple point-count method. Drawn on a sheet of paper, each quadrant of the whole mount sections contained 8 equidistant points. During the microscopic slides examination, the tumor area was drawn over the correspondent quadrant of the paper sheet. According to th