Ninety-six patients who expired due to carcinoma of the prostate were identified within the primary treatment area of Brooke Army Medical Center between the years of 1981 and 1988. Although 71 patients were noted to have abnormal prostate examinations at the time of diagnosis, 11 had been noted to have a palpably normal prostate within three years of tumor diagnosis. Twenty-four patients had a palpably normal prostate at the time of diagnosis. Fifteen patients had been previously noted to have an abnormal prostate but biopsy in 11 of these had been benign. These data suggest that digital rectal examination of the prostate will not detect a number of patients who will ultimately die of carcinoma of the prostate.