Fine-needle aspiration cytology of prostate: experience in a nonacademic practice

Fine-needle aspiration cytology of the prostate is becoming increasingly accepted and used in the United States. This is a report of the experience of a nonacademic practice in which the aspirations were performed by a number of urologists, usually in the office, and were interpreted by a number of pathologists with varying degrees of experience in cytopathology. Of 187 patients, 159 had smears adequate for evaluation, and 99 had histologic/substantiating clinical follow-up for comparison. The resulting specificity was 97%, sensitivity was 91%, and the false-negative rate was 9%. These figures compare favorably with those reported in studies from academic university-based practices.