BACKGROUND:

Despite international recommendations, there is a lack of standardization in the reporting of surgical margins.

OBJECTIVE:

To describe the characteristics of positive margins that should be reported following radical prostatectomy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

An observational, descriptive, crosssectional, and retrospective study was conducted. The medical records of patients with prostate cancer that underwent robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy within the time frame of May 2015 and May 2016 were reviewed. The variables of tumor stage, Gleason score, prostate volume, prostate-specific antigen, prostate-specific antigen density, biochemical recurrence, and the need for postoperative radiotherapy were described.

RESULTS:

Fifty-two medical records were obtained. Three patients (5.7%) had positive surgical margins and the most common location was the apex, with a mean extension of 2.6 mm. Sixty percent of those cases had a Gleason score of 7 (3+4) and pT2bR1 stage disease. Two patients received adjuvant radiotherapy and one patient underwent salvage radiotherapy.

CONCLUSIONS:

The evaluation of the histopathologic features of positive surgical margins after prostatectomy can be clinically significant. Results in regard to the importance of these variables are controversial, most likely related to the lack of uniformity among pathology reports.

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