Transurethral biopsy of the prostate was another approach that had been described but unlike the previous method described it required a general anaesthetic and a period of hospitalization. Denton et al. held that an extensive transurethral prostatectomy would nearly always confirm the diagnosis (Denton et al., 1967) and Grabstald commented that this transurethral biopsy might be useful in advanced tumours (Grabstald, 1965b). However it was well known that prostate cancer was more frequently seen posteriorly and near the capsule and thus was not easily reached with the resecting loop since only the tissue within the prostatic urethra was sampled (Peirson and Nickerson, 1943; Kaufman et al., 1954)
