Table 1.

Tools for Risk Estimation in Newly Diagnosed Prostate Cancer Patients

Tool	Description	Example
Risk categories	Uses categorized clinical and pathologic variables to separate patients into broad risk groups	D’Amico risk groups4–6 (low, intermediate, or high risk of BCR)
Probability tables	Shares some features of risk categories and nomograms; uses categorized clinical and pathologic predictor variables to calculate the probability of specified outcomes	Partin tables11–13 (probability of organconfined cancer, extracapsular extension, seminal vesicle, or lymph node involvement)
Risk score	Similar to risk categories, but also incorporates % of positive biopsy cores and age; more personalized risk assessment compared with risk groups	UCSF-CAPRA score14,15 (risk score 1–10, denoting different probabilities of recurrence)
Nomograms	Most widely used risk prediction tools; calculate probability of event based on continuous and categorical input; most individualized risk assessment compared with risk groups, scores, or probability tables	Kattan nomograms20–22,30,31 (probability of 5- and 10-year freedom from BCR; indolent cancer or pathologic stage)
Systems pathology	Combines common clinical and pathologic parameters with quantitative tissue morphology and biomarkers obtained through advance imaging analysis	Prostate Px⊕34 (probability of clinical failure or favorable pathology/indolent disease)

BCR, biochemical recurrence; UCSF-CAPRA, University of California, San Francisco-Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment.

Prostate Px®⊕, Aureon Laboratories, Yonkers, NY.