Current Diagnostic Pathology (2007) 13, 490–498 REVIEW Radical prostatectomy specimen processing: A critical appraisal of sampling methods Ming-Tse Sung a,b , Darrell D. Davidson a , Rodolfo Montironi c , Antonio Lopez-Beltran d , Liang Cheng a,e,Ã a Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA b Department of Pathology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital—Kaohsiung Medical Center, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan c Institute of Pathological Anatomy and Histopathology, School of Medicine, Polytechnic University of the Marche Region (Ancona), United Hospitals, Ancona, Italy d Department of Pathology, Cordoba University, Cordoba, Spain e Department of Urology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA KEYWORDS Prostatic neoplasm; Radical prostatectomy; Pathological staging; Specimen-handling; Processing protocol; Whole-mount method; Tissue procurement Summary Radical prostatectomy gives the most accurate and detailed informa- tion available for determining prognosis and deciding about adjuvant therapy for prostate cancer. The consistency and reproducibility of observations from these specimens requires a standardised protocol for tissue fixation, sampling, embedding and processing. Although the publication of processing protocols in recent years has led to a convergence of opinions, differences still exist in methods of handling, sampling and processing specimens. In this review article, we incorporate the processing methods for radical prostatectomy addressed in the previous reports and propose a comprehensively standardised approach to evaluate radical prostatectomy specimens. & 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Prostate carcinoma is the most common non- cutaneous malignancy of men in the United States. In 2006, it is estimated that 234 460 new cases will be diagnosed, increased by 528% from the 37 324 new cases in 1985. 1 The dramatic increase in prostate carcinoma in the past two decades is mainly due to screening for prostate-specific ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/cdip 0968-6053/$ - see front matter & 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cdip.2007.06.005 Ã Corresponding author. Department of Pathology and Labora- tory Medicine, Clarian Pathology Laboratory, Indiana University School of Medicine, 350 West 11th Street, Room 4010, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA. Tel.: +1 317 491 6442; fax: +1 317 491 6419. E-mail address: lcheng@iupui.edu (L. Cheng).