Blood loss during radical retropubic prostatectomy: relationship to morphologic features on preoperative endorectal magnetic resonance imaging.

Objectives: To determine whether morphologic features at preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are related to intraoperative blood loss during radical retropubic prostatectomy.

Methods: Endorectal MRI was performed in 143 patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer before radical retropubic prostatectomy. Two independent readers rated the prominence of the periprostatic veins (on the basis of number and size) at four anatomic sites on a 3-point scale.