Prostatic Carcinoma: A Pakistani Perspective

Abstract

As in many countries of the world, prostatic adenocarcinoma is extremely common in Pakistan. In a studycarried out in our section, it was the third commonest malignancy in males, comprising almost 7% of all malignantneoplasms. Furthermore, another investigation revealed it to be the commonest malignant neoplasm in males inthe seventh and eight decades, comprising 15% and 25% of respectively of all malignant neoplasms in these agegroups. Recent data extracted from radical prostatectomy specimens in our department have revealed that themajority of carcinomas are advanced (like most other cancers in our country) when they are first diagnosed ortreated. The majority of cases in which radical prostatectomy was performed showed not only advanced stage(pT3a or pT3b) but also exhibited extra-prostatic extension and positive surgical margins. For a cancer whichis so common in our population, the diagnostic and therapeutic modalities available are extremely limited.

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