Anterior-predominant prostate cancer (APC) is an incompletely understood entity which can be difficult to sample via transrectal biopsy. Seemingly favorable biopsy results may belie the potential aggressiveness of these tumors. Here, we attempt to characterize APC by retrospectively examining the clinicopathologic features of APC at radical prostatectomy and comparing our findings with prior biopsy information. We found that 17.4 % of patients in our study had APC. APC demonstrated a significantly lower (P value < 0.05) Gleason score (GS) and pathologic stage than non-APC tumors, including the absence of seminal vesicle invasion by APC. A subset (5.6 %) of APC consisted of high-grade tumors (GS ≥ 8), and these tumors were more often detected on transperineal saturation biopsy than non-transperineal saturation (i.e., transrectal ultrasound guided) biopsy strategies. Four patients (7 %) without transperineal saturation biopsy exhibited a significantly worse GS at RP than biopsy, compared to five patients (36 %) with transperineal saturation biopsy. Our findings corroborate the difficulty in detecting APC and suggest that APC is not a uniform disease with a wholly indolent phenotype. Dedicated long-term outcome data are needed in these patients. Additionally, alternative pathologic staging parameters may be necessary.
Keywords: Anterior prostate; Biopsy; Prostate cancer; Radical prostatectomy.