3D modelling of radical prostatectomy specimens: Developing a method to quantify tumor morphometry for prostate cancer risk prediction.

Prostate cancer displays a wide spectrum of clinical behaviour from biological indolence to rapidly lethal disease, but we remain unable to accurately predict an individual tumor's future clinical course at an early curable stage. Beyond basic dimensions and volume calculations, tumor morphometry is an area that has received little attention, as it requires the analysis of the prostate gland and tumor foci in three-dimensions. Previous efforts to generate three-dimensional prostate models have required specialised graphics units and focused on the spatial distribution of tumors for optimisation of biopsy strategies rather than to generate novel morphometric variables such as tumor surface area.

Prostate weight is the preferred measure of prostate size in radical prostatectomy cohorts.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of calculated prostate volume variables in a radical prostatectomy (RP) cohort, as many recent studies use these measures of prostate size instead of prostate weight. To determine whether this accuracy could be improved by modifying the mathematical model used in the volume estimation.

Patients And Methods: Patients who underwent RP for prostate cancer at our associated institutions had calculated specimen volumes and weights from RP specimens determined at one pathology institution and transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) volumes were recorded preoperatively (n= 236).