Grading of Prostatic Carcinomas—Current Status. In: Bruce AW, Trachtenberg J, editors. Adenocarcinoma of the Prostate. London: Springer; 1987. pp. 29-46. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4471-1398-0_2]

Incidental Prostatic Carcinoma

Incidental carcinoma of the prostate is defined as an incidentally detected cancer without any clinical manifestation, i.e. latent. Clinically, it is diagnosed mostly by TUR and is staged as T1a and T1b according to the TNM classification. There is clinical understaging, however, of up to 27% for T1a and 68% for T1b. Although the subdivision seems justifiable on the basis of the progression rates (8% and 63% respectively), it is not a useful indicator of the natural history of the incidental carcinoma. Pathological staging of TUR specimens is far from standardized, with regard to both the different sampling methods and the commonly-used classifications. Since the T1 staging system is based more on how the cancer is identified than on classifying its pathology, different methods should be used for a full clinical understanding of an incidental carcinoma. Distinguishing cancers as clinically important or not allows a better prognostic indication compared to the staging systems, which can still not be considered as precise indicators of whether to treat the cancer or wait and see. Unfortunately the true prognostic factors cannot be directly deduced from the currently used sampling methods of TUR specimens. A complete diagnostic assessment should be carried out after initial diagnosis of incidental prostatic cancer in order to appreciate its clinical importance. Basically both revision of the material by the pathologist and further clinical investigation are useful. Lastly, the need for close co-operation between urologists and pathologists should be stressed.

A pathologist's view of prostatic carcinoma

In this article, the pathologic findings of carcinoma of the prostate were reviewed. Criteria were discussed for the pathologic diagnosis of prostatic carcinoma (PC), premalignant lesions, lesions that simulate PC, immunopathologic findings, special types of PC, effects of therapy on the prostate, and recent efforts to improve diagnostic and prognostic capabilities. The possible role of the study of nucleolar organizing regions was reported. A new method for demonstrating chromosomes in formaldehyde-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue was mentioned. The need for research in all aspects of the pathology of prostatic cancer was emphasized.

Pathology of carcinoma of the prostate

In this presentation the authors review the pathology of prostatic carcinoma (PCa), and discuss criteria for pathologic diagnosis, premalignant lesions, lesions that simulate PCa, immunopathology, special types of PCa, effects of therapy on the prostate, and recent efforts to improve diagnostic and prognostic capabilities. The possible role of study of nucleolar organizing regions is reported. A new method for demonstration of chromosome in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue is presented. The need for research in all aspects of pathology is emphasized.