OBJECTIVE Improving a country's management of cancer patients requires continuous evaluation, and requires the availability of population-based prognostic and therapeutic variables. We aimed to document the national diagnostic and therapeutic tasks in Norwegian patients with prostate cancer diagnosed in 2004, with the 2003 European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines representing the background. PATIENTS AND METHODS The Norwegian Prostate Cancer Registry (NoPCR) was established in 2004, and data collected during this first year were reviewed. The Tumour-Node-Metastasis group, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level and Gleason score were recorded as basic diagnostic variables, with the initial treatment. Patients with nonmetastatic T1-T3 tumours were separated from those with advanced disease (T4 and/or N+ and/or M+). Patients with T1-T3 tumours, aged