Does the Extent of Carcinoma in Prostatic Biopsies Predict Prostate-Specific Antigen Recurrence?
The biologic potential of prostate cancer (pCA) is variable, and the ability to identify tumours that might cause morbidity and mortality is limited. This systematic review sought to establish whether measurement of tumour extent in biopsies provides additional prognostic information on the risk of disease progression. A comprehensive 31-step search strategy was run in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Web of Knowledge (January 1990-July 2007) and supplemented by the hand-searching of references in retrieved articles and relevant journals to identify publications related to the measurement of the length of cancer in biopsies and biochemical or clinical recurrence or pCA death. Thirteen papers reporting on at least 100 patients were identified and included patients treated by watchful waiting or hormonal therapy (n=1), radical prostatectomy (n=11), or radiotherapy (n=1). Only two studies reported on clinical progression or mortality. Sources of bias included patient selection and missing data re
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