1 H MRSI in vivo is increasingly being used to diagnose prostate cancer noninvasively by measurement of the resonance from choline-containing phospholipid metabolites. Although 31 P NMR in vivo or in vitro is potentially an excellent method for probing the phospholipid metabolites prominent in prostate cancer, it has been little used recently. Here, we report an in vitro 31 P NMR comparison of prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia, focusing on the levels of the major phospholipid metabolites. Unlike phosphocholine and glycerophosphocholine, phosphoethanolamine and glycerophosphoethanolamine (and their ratio) were significantly different between cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia. The high level of phosphoethanolamine1glycerophosphoethanolamine relative to phosphocholine1glycerophosphocholine suggests that the former may be significant contributors to the ''total choline'' resonance observed by

In vitro 1H NMR spectra were acquired for perchloric acid extracts of tissue samples of human prostate. Seven patients were diagnosed with prostate cancer, 13 with benign prostatic hypertrophy, and 3 with both conditions. Statistically significant differences between the cancer and benign groups were seen for the metabolite peak area ratios of citrate, creatine, and phosphorylcholine to alanine, and citrate to glutamate. There was no correlation of Gleason grade with any of the ratios measured for the cancer samples. Spectra from different sections of large tumors often yielded substantially different area ratios, confirming the heterogeneous nature of these prostate tumors.

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A case of an ectopic ureter entering a seminal vesicle cyst and associated with ipsilateral renal agenesis is presented. The differential diagnosis and the embryological explanation of the anomaly are considered.