My last DRE revealed a "grainy" pea-sized, nodule on my prostate and
a PSA >1    . So my urologist suggested I have a biopsy which,
thankfully, revealed no tumor in any of the 16 samples taken.

I was, however, surprised to find that the pathology report failed to
characterize the samples as anything other than "No tumor present,"
considering that a pathologist  evidently had  to examine the samples
microscopically, and this failure still leaves my urologist and I
wondering what the abnormal area is.

Since the hospital I went to is a well-respected, teaching hospital, I
was wondering if the failure to characterize prostate tissue as other
than tumorous or non-tumerous is standard procedure elsewhere in the
country. In addition, I was wondering what the chances are that  this
tissue, as opposed to normal tissue, will become cancerous, since my
urologist told me that if a follow-up PSA in 6 months showed a rise,
he'd want to do another biopsy.

Thanks very much in advance for the info.

BTW, the biopsy was completely painless, because it was done in the
hospital under mild anaesthesia, and I was out and normal in a few
hours . So I'd highly recommend that it be done this way.