[Effect of the natural history on management of adenocarcinoma of the prostate].

The natural history of prostate cancer has long been regarded as unpredictable. The discrepancy between histologically identifiable (40%) and clinically diagnosed carcinomas (8%) led to the term of "latent" prostate cancer and to considerable diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas. Based on our previous studies showing that biological aggressivity of prostate cancer is a direct function of tumor volume and that tumor volume and serum PSA are proportional, we evaluated two basically different groups of patients.

Localized prostate cancer. Relationship of tumor volume to clinical significance for treatment of prostate cancer.

Background: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program of the National Cancer Institute and American total mortality rates, the authors calculated the probability at birth of having a diagnosis of prostate cancer within a man's life to be 8.8% and then subtracted the incidence of microscopic Stage A cancers too small to ever be clinically significant. This gave a final probability of 8%.

[Systematic morphometry of radical prostatectomy samples. A guideline for general practice].

The predictive value of quantitated tumor volume for the prognosis of the individual patient with prostate cancer has been established in analysis of more than 500 radical prostatectomy specimens at Stanford Medical Center. The Stanford technique for detailed tissue sectioning involves considerable time and expense plus computer planimetry. Therefore we have developed two simplified protocols which are suitable to routine diagnostic pathology.

The predictive significance of substaging stage A prostate cancer (A1 versus A2) for volume and grade of total cancer in the prostate.

Morphometric analysis was performed on 44 radical prostatectomy specimens for clinical stages A1 and A2 carcinoma of the prostate. The majority of stage A cancers (86%) were located in the transition zone of the prostate, while only 14% arose in the peripheral zone. The subclassification into stages A1 and A2 based on the percentage of cancer in the transurethral resection chips did not reliably distinguish those cancers of high volume (transurethral resection plus residual).

Morphologic analysis of surgical margins with positive findings in prostatectomy for adenocarcinoma of the prostate.

Apical invasion and positive apical margins were assessed in 165 consecutive radical prostatectomies. Apical invasion, defined as cancer in the distal 8 mm of the prostate, was evident in more than 80% of the cases, and apical margins occurred in 16% of the specimens with apical Clinical judgement was not effective in predicting apical cancer. Frequency of apical margins increased in proportion to greater cancer volume, from 9.