Bacteraemia following perineal prostatic biopsy.

Forty patients undergoing needle biopsy of the prostate via the perineal route were studied bacteriologically. Four had positive blood cultures 5 min after the biopsy but none developed septicaemia, although no prophylactic antibiotics were used. Three of the four patients developing bacteraemia were found to have an unsuspected urinary tract infection and the same organisms were cultured from blood and urine, suggesting that this was the source of the bacteraemia.

Biochemical aids to the staging of breast cancer.

Up to fifteen plasma proteins were measured before treatment in 249 women presenting with lumps in the breast. Concentrations showed considerable overlap between the various clinical stages, and were often normal even in metastatic disease. A discriminant function is proposed, based on measurement of C-reactive protein, beta 2-microglobulin, carcinoembryonic antigen and ferritin and calculation of a score for each subject. High-risk scores resulted for all 18 patients with Stage 4 (i.e., metastatic) disease, and the number of Stage 1 patients attaining high scores was consistent with the reported incidence of development of metastases in such a group. Follow-up studies are in progress.