Approximately 250 patients undergoing radical prostatectomy consent annually to share material and clinical data with the Prostate Cancer Biobank and Registry. Among this group, half of the patients will also have pelvic lymph nodes dissected. More than 5000 patients have been included since 1994. The Research Registry for Prostate Cancer (Data Protection Representative Ref. 18/07786) collects pre,- peri- and post-surgery information as well as follow-up data.
The Prostate Biobank study has approvals and consent in place to retrieve and link data to a range of nationwide and mandatory registries such as the Cancer Registry of Norway, The Norwegian Cause of Death Registry (NCoDR), The Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD) and The Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR). Beyond these, deeper-level clinical and phenotype data are also retrieved directly from hospital electronic medical records. Furthermore, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels are collected directly from three of the largest medical laboratories nationally.