Biopsy Underestimates Prostate Cancer in Overweight Men

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Insufficient biopsy sampling was linked to inaccurate diagnosis and more aggressive cancer.

"If the biopsy was only done with less than eight cores, those patients were a lot more likely to have a higher grade disease despite a lower grade disease on the biopsy," said Dr. Freedland.

The research suggests extensive biopsy sampling and more aggressive treatment may be needed to treat overweight prostate cancer patients.

"The moral of the story is, if the patient's obese, despite having a low-grade cancer and biopsy, we should be concerned that it's a higher-grade cancer. Whether all obese men with low-risk disease should be treated like higher-grade, that's what our data would suggest," he said. "I'm not sure we're ready for that, but that's certainly something we should be thinking about."

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

Source: Ivanhoe interview with Stephen Freedland, M.D.; UROLOGY, 2007;69:495-499