Does pT2b prostate carcinoma exist?
GROUND: Clinicopathologic staging of prostate adenocarcinoma provides a method for assessing the extent of tumor and predicting patient prognosis. The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM staging system has undergone recent revisions for T2 prostate tumors. T2 tumors currently are subclassified as T2a (less than one-half of one lobe involvement), T2b (greater than one-half of one lobe involvement), and T2c (bilateral involvement). Despite general acceptance of the system, controversy and uncertainty still exist with regard to the application of the TNM staging system, particularly the use of the T2 staging subclassification. METHODS: The study population was comprised of 369 patients with prostate carcinoma who were treated with radical retropubic prostatectomy. Radical prostatectomy specimens were evaluated histologically by complete embedding and whole-mount processing. Tumor specimens were staged initially using the 1998 AJCC TNM system and then reevaluated according to the
