REVIEW

¹ Department of Pathology, Erasmus Medical Center, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands
² Department of Anatomy-Pathology, Instituto Português de Oncologia de Francisco Gentil, 4200 Porto, Portugal
³ Department of Anatomy-Pathology, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, 28905 Getafe (Madrid), Spain
⁴ Department of Pathology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Östra, S-41685 Göteborg, Sweden
⁵ Department of Pathology, Academic Hospital Middelheim, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
⁶ Department of Pathology, Centre for Laboratory Medicine, FIN-33521 Tampere, Finland
⁷ Department of Pathology, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
⁸ Institue of Pathology, University of Basel, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Th H van der Kwast, Department of Pathology, Josephine Nefkens Institute, Erasmus Medical Center, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands;
vanderkwast{at}path.fgg.eur.nl

The reported detection rate of prostate cancer, lesions suspicious for cancer, and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) in needle biopsies is highly variable. In part, technical factors, including the quality of the biopsies, the tissue processing, and histopathological reporting, may account for these differences. It has been thought that standardisation of tissue processing might reduce the observed variations in detection rate. Consensus among the members of the pathology committee of the European Randomised study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) concerning the optimal methodology of tissue embedding resulting in guidelines for prostatic needle biopsy processing was reached. The adoption of an unequivocal and uniform way of reporting lesions encountered in prostatic needle biopsies is considered helpful for decision taking by the clinician. The definition of parameters for quality control of prostatic needle biopsy diagnostics will further facilitate clinical epidemiological multicentre studies of prostate cancer.

Keywords: prostate cancer; needle biopsy; histopathology; tissue processing; quality control

Abbreviations: ERSPC, European Randomised Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer; PIN, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia; PSA, prostate specific antigen

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