Patients with advanced incurable cancer were very good judges of their QoL, and many patients rated their QoL as good. Judgments were highly individual, with very high levels of consistency and validity. The primacy given to health in many QoL questionnaires may be questioned in this population. The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to clinical assessment and advance directives.

Purpose Fusion of the TMPRSS2 prostate-specific gene with the ERG transcription factor is a putatively oncogenic gene rearrangement that is commonly found in prostate cancer tissue from men undergoing prostatectomy. However, the prevalence of the fusion was less common in TURP samples from a Swedish cohort of incidental prostate cancer patients followed by watchful waiting, raising the question as to whether the high prevalence in prostatectomy specimens reflects selection bias. We sought to determine the prevalence of TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusion among PSA-screened men undergoing prostate biopsy in the United States. Experimental design We studied 140 prostate biopsies from the same number of patients for TMPRSS2-ERG fusion status with a FISH assay. 134 (100 cancer and 34 benign) were assessable. Results ERG gene rearrangement was detected in 46% prostate biopsies that were found to have prostate cancer and in 0% of benign prostate biopsies (p<0.0001). Evaluation of morphological features showed that cribriform growth, blue-tinged mucin, macronucleoli and collagenous micronodules were significantly more frequent in TMPRSS2-ERG fusion positive prostate cancer biopsies than gene fusion negative prostate cancer biopsies (p≤0.04). No significant association with Gleason score was detected. In addition, non-Caucasian patients were less likely to have positive fusion status (p=0.02). Conclusions This is the first prospective North American multi-center study to characterize the TMPRSS2-ERG prostate cancer prevalence in a cohort of patients undergoing needle biopsy irrespective of whether or not they subsequently undergo prostatectomy. Our results show that this gene rearrangement is common among North American men who have prostate cancer on biopsy, is absent in benign prostate biopsy, and is associated with specific morphological features. These findings indicate a need for prospective studies to evaluate the relationship of TMPRSS2-ERG rearrangement with clinical course of screening-detected prostate cancer in North American men, and development of non-invasive screening tests to detect TMPRSS2-ERG rearrangement.

ISE is an effective and well-accepted form of GME and CME and is a promising new methodology to improve CPG knowledge.