Prostate cancer: Assessment of risk using digital rectal, examination, tumor grade, prostate-specific antigen, and systematic biopsy

The local staging of disease often is critical in the treatment selection and treatment planning for patients with prostate cancer. The mast important distinction needed is between pathologically organ-confined disease:and non-organ-confined disease. Digital rectal examination, tumor grade, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) provide some useful information for risk assessment in individual, patients. More recent studies using percent-free PSA levels and systematic biopsy results has added additional staging information and may play a more significant role in risk assessment in the future.