Prostatic ultrasound in the patient without a rectum.

Digital rectal examination, measurement of prostatic-specific antigen, and transrectal ultrasound, with or without prostate biopsy, are the urologist's primary tools for diagnosing carcinoma of the prostate. However, in the patient who has previously undergone abdominoperineal resection of the rectum such procedures are not possible. We therefore describe a simple, cost-effective method for evaluating the prostate in the patient without a rectum, via transperineal ultrasound and prostate biopsy. This procedure provides the urologist with a solution to a heretofore difficult problem.