Introduction
➤ Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the
United States (~174,650 in 2019), nearly 20% of all new cancers, and the
second leading cause of cancer-related death (~31,620 in 2019).
➤ At diagnosis, there is a diverse spectrum of clinical course ranging from
indolent features with a negligible likelihood of morbidity or mortality
to characteristics reflecting near certitude of eventual metastases and
cancer-specific death.
➤ Predicting future clinical behavior is imperfect but constitutes the
foundation of physician counseling and patient management decisions.
• By utilizing additional biopsy data (e.g., total number or percent of positive cores),
more nuanced risk stratification can be achieved (e.g., CAPRA score
[www.guidelinecentral.com/CAPRA], nomograms [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pmc/articles/PMC2242430/figure/F1/]).
➤ A variety of molecular biomarkers have been developed, evaluated, and
commercialized with an overarching aim to further personalize risk
stratification, more comprehensively inform management decisions, and
consequently improve quality of care.
