BASELINE STAGING OF NEWLY DIAGNOSED PROSTATE CANCER: A SUMMARY OF THE LITERATURE

Patients with low risk prostate cancer are unlikely to have metastatic disease documented by bone scan or CT. Therefore, these investigations should not be standard practice. However, patients with PSA 20 ng/ml or greater, locally advanced disease, or Gleason score 8 or greater are at higher risk for bone metastases and should be considered for bone scan. CT may be useful in patients with locally advanced disease or Gleason score 8 or greater but appears not to be of benefit in patients with increased PSA alone.