Morphometric evaluation of the human prostate

Abstract

In order to clarify the ageing-related histological changes in the human prostate, a quantitative morphometric analysis was performed. Complete prostates were obtained at autopsy from 281 men (aged 20-84 years) who died in traffic accidents and presented no clinical symptoms of prostatic disease. The prostates were classified as: histologically normal (n=182), with nodular hyperplasia (n=42), with intraepithelial neoplasia (n=40) and carcinomatous with low Gleason grade (n=20). Each prostate was divided into three regions (periurethral, central and peripheral) and the volume of each region, as well as the average volume occupied by stroma and epithelium in each region were quantified. For each parameter, the average values for each age group were compared. In the histologically normal prostates, an increase with ageing in the total volume and the volume occupied by the central region were observed; these increases were mainly caused by an increase in the stromal volume of the central region in men after 30 years of age. No histologically normal prostates were found in men older than 70 years of age. Nodular prostatic hyperplasia was found in men over 30 years of age and a fluctuation in the total volume throughout ageing was observed. Prostates with intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and carcinoma were observed in men aged >20 years and the total volume and those of each prostatic region showed multiple variations, except for the eighth decade where a marked increase with regard to that of the previous decades was observed.

Age-related histological and zinc content changes in adult nonhyperplastic prostate glands

“…The comparison of our results with data from the literature for young adult nonhyperplastic prostate glands (Bartsch et al 1979;Arenas et al 2001;Chagas et al 2002;Matsuda et al 2006) is shown in Table 4. Because in the study of Bartsch et al (1979) and Chagas et al (2002) mean percent volumes of prostate stroma and glandular epithelium only were measured, we calculated mean percent volumes of the glandular lumen (L) as the remainder "100−S(%)−E(%)" and the glandular component (GC = E + L) as the remainder "100−S (%)".…”

“…Also, that study provided evidence that the S/E ratio of the prostate remains constant in males from birth to age 40 years and equals 6:1. These findings did not agree with the morphometric studies of some other researches (Bartsch et al 1979;Arenas et al 2001;Chagas et al 2002;Matsuda et al 2006).…”

“…Some histologic parameters of nonhyperplastic prostate gland of persons over 50 years of age according to data from the literature (Deng et al 1995;Doehring et al 1996;Arenas et al 2001;Pirus 2006) are compared with our results in Table 5. Because in the study of Deng et al (1995) mean percent volumes of prostate stroma and glandular epithelium only were measured, we calculated mean percent volumes of glandular lumen (L) as L(%)=100−S(%)−E(%).…”

“…Because in the study of Bartsch et al (1979) and Chagas et al (2002) mean percent volumes of prostate stroma and glandular epithelium only were measured, we calculated mean percent volumes of the glandular lumen (L) as the remainder "100−S(%)−E(%)" and the glandular component (GC = E + L) as the remainder "100−S (%)". In the study of Arenas et al (2001), each prostate was divided into three regions (periurethral, central, and peripheral) and the volume of each region, as well as the average volume occupied by stroma and epithelium in each region, was quantified in cubic millimeters. For comparison of these results with other published data and data of our study, the percent volumes for stroma and epithelium were calculated by us for each region and the medians of these values are presented in Table 4.…”

“…Because in the study of Deng et al (1995) mean percent volumes of prostate stroma and glandular epithelium only were measured, we calculated mean percent volumes of glandular lumen (L) as L(%)=100−S(%)−E(%). The data of Arenas et al (2001) for persons aged over 50 years were treated by us as was done with their results for young adult men in Table 4. In the study of Pirus (2006), mean percent volumes of prostate smooth muscle and connective tissue only were measured.…”