Clinicopathological View of Prostate Biopsy : A Literature Review

s: The prostate is a wall-nut sized organ in the male located at the neck of the bladder. In the prostate, there are three common group of diseases. They include: inflammatory lesions, benign enlargement, neoplastic lesions/tumour-like lesions. Adenocarcinoma of the prostate is the commonest form of cancer in men. Prostate biopsy refers to taking of tissue from the prostate gland and examining them under the microscope for the presence of any pathological lesion. Types of prostate biopsy include: Transurethral biopsy, transrectal biopsy and transperitoneal biopsy. The laboratory handling of prostate biopsy depends on the type of biopsy done. Generally, this include – Fixation: To prevent decomposition of the tissue; dehydration: using graded concentration of alcohol; clearing: using xylene; infiltration: using paraffin wax to replace the water that was removed from the tissue; embedding: to orient the tissue properly in paraffin wax; microtomy: involving sectioning of the tissue; staining: using haematoxylin and eosin; mounting: using destyrene, plastisizer, xylene; microscopy: done using a microscope by the pathologist to make a diagnosis of an inflammatory, nodular hyperplasia or neoplastic lesion depending on the microscopic findings. However sometimes ancilliary investigations may need to be done to help the pathologist in arriving at a reasonable conclusion such as immunohistochemistry.