Prostatic cancer. Staging via transrectal prostatic sonography and computed tomography with histopathological correlation

: Pre-operative staging, using transrectal prostatic sonography and CT, was carried out in 30 patients with cytologically confirmed carcinomas of the prostate and the results compared with the clinical findings. All patients underwent radical prostatectomy and the pre-operative findings could be verified histologically. Transrectal prostatic sonography is better than CT or clinical examination for determining local tumour spread or penetration of the capsule. A high proportion of enlarged pelvic lymph-nodes shown by CT had non-specific changes; failure to demonstrate enlarged nodes excludes lymph node metastases with considerable certainty. Transrectal prostatic sonography provides a higher degree of information regarding local tumour spread, whereas CT indicates the presence or absence of lymph node metastases.