Prostate cancer staging in radical prostatectomy

Definition

• The objective of staging is to group malignancies with a similar prognosis and therapeutic approach to be able to compare clinicopathologic data on a homogeneous patient population.

• Staging involves determining the anatomic extent or spread of prostate cancer at the time of diagnosis based on clinical and pathological criteria.

• The TNM staging is the most widely used system for prostate cancer staging and assesses the extent of primary tumor (T stage), the absence or presence of regional lymph node involvement (N stage), and the absence or presence of distant metastases (M stage).

• Pathological staging of the radical prostatectomy specimen after surgery provides important prognostic information.