Insignificant or Latent Prostate Cancer
No precise definition is available, but insignificant or latent cancer is generally considered cases that never progress far enough to cause problems or become life threatening. They would remain undetected and unsuspected unless they were detected during screening or a prostate procedure for some other reason, usually transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) for the urinary symptoms of BPH. Prostate cancer is fairly unique in the seemingly large prevalence of this form of the disease.
There are a few autopsy studies that report prevalence of prostate cancer that was unsuspected. They generally report surprisingly high rates. These studies give a clue to the amount of latent or unsuspected prostate cancer. As it turns out, detected cases may be only the tip of the iceberg. For example, a review of 249 autopsies of men from Detroit reported unsuspected prostate cancer in about one-third of men in their 30s and 40s, over one-half in their 50s, and nearly two-thirds of men in their 60s.
