Cryopreservation of prostate cancer tissue during routine processing of fresh unfixed prostatectomy specimen: demonstration and validation of a new technique

BACKGROUND Most molecular techniques currently require fresh frozen tumor tissue, which in the case of prostatectomy specimen is a challenge to obtain for a variety of intrinsic reasons. Prostate cancers are usually located in the organ periphery and hence meticulous attention has to be paid to the relation between the tumor and the surgical margin. In this article we describe a new technique that allows to obtain fresh frozen tumor material in rather large quantities and without jeopardizing diagnostic accuracy. METHOD An inner triangle, representing roughly 50% of the entire prostate tissue, is removed from native prostatectomy specimen and cryopreserved, leaving the periphery of the orga…