Transrectal ultrasonography of the prostate and prostate cancer--an update.

Accurate clinical staging of localized prostate cancer is hampered by limited visualization of the prostate with conventional techniques of diagnostic imaging. Palpation of the prostate is also notoriously poor as a staging procedure. Since its first clinical use in the late 1960s transrectal ultrasonography has become a useful and practical means of determining the presence and nature of diseases of the prostate. The purpose of this discussion is the review of recent advances in the application and results of transrectal ultrasonography in the diagnosis, staging, treatment, and determination of response to treatment in prostate cancer.