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Role of Prostate Volume Estimation

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer found in America. This cancer tends to affect older men predominantly. There are various treatment options, and prostate volume estimation is a helpful factor in determining and assessing the appropriate course of treatment.

  1. Prostate Cancer

    • Prostate cancer involves the enlargement of the prostate as a reaction to the growth of tumor cells within the prostate. Risk factors for prostate cancer increase with age and 65 percent of all prostate cancer is diagnosed after the age of 65. Moreover, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, it affects 1 in 6 men. With new techniques related to monitoring and treatment, 90 percent of all prostate cancer is detected at its early stages and there is almost a 100 percent cure rate at these early stages.

    Reasons for Volume Estimation

    • As part of the diagnosis process, doctors may employ methods to measure the volume of the prostate and then compare the size to the average size of a prostate. Typically, a doctor will employ a prostate-specific antigen blood test (PSA) to determine if there are specific proteins in the blood stream that are common only to different types of prostate cancer. If this comes back positive, then the doctor will start a pre-treatment screening of the prostate. Ultrasound Volume Estimation (UVE) is the most common type of pre-treatment assessment.

    Ultrasound Volume Estimation

    • UVE is the typical procedure that doctors use to ascertain the size, interpret the type and elevation of PSA levels. This procedure will also be used after the doctor has employed a course of anti-cancer treatment, to determine if the course of action is effective against the prostate cancer. The UVE can use different techniques to determine volume, ranging from planimetry measurements (cross-sectional imagining across a plane of the prostate) or based on its diameter. A 2002 research study at the Department of Urology, Aker University Hospital in Oslo, Norway determined that the most widely used method of measuring prostate size, tends to underestimate prostate size.

    Magnetic Resonance

    • Although, not as common a pre-treatment screening, some doctors will use magnetic resonance imaging, or MRIs, to determine the volume of the prostate. A study conducted in 2007 at the Department of Urology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, in Seoul Korea, compared the accuracy of MRI versus UVE. They found that the MRI was more accurate at estimating prostate volume, but that the UVE is an inexpensive, non-invasive procedure that is nearly as accurate at estimating the prostate volume and should be a preferred method.

    Treatment Options

    • Once the doctors use their pre-treatment assessment they will have either already employed a course of treatment. According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, there is no "typical" treatment for prostate cancer, and doctors will consider various options ranging from chemotherapy to a prostatectomy, which is removal of portions of or the entire affected prostate.

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