CLINICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF HEREDITARY PROSTATE-CANCER

Purpose: We determined whether the clinical and pathological features of hereditary prostate cancer differ from those of sporadic prostate c ancer. Materials and Methods: We compared the clinical and pathologica l features of radical prostatectomy specimens from 50 men with and 50 without a family history of prostate cancer who were matched for age a nd date of surgery. Results: Median serum prostate specific antigen co ncentration was not significantly different in the 2 groups. Mean Glea son score plus or minus standard deviation in the 50 men with sporadic prostate cancer was 6.2 +/- 1 compared to 5.6 +/- 0.9 in those with h ereditary disease (p = 0.008). Of the 50 hereditary and 50 sporadic pr ostate cancers 35 (70%) and 33 (66%), respectively, were pathologicall y organ confined (p = 0.69). Median percentage of carcinoma within the gland (determined morphometrically) in men with hereditary disease wa s 11.4 +/- 8.3 compared to 10.9 +/- 8.9 for those with sporadic cancer (p = 0.63). Conclusions: In our study population hereditary prostate cancers have significantly lower Gleason scores compared to sporadic c arcinomas. Otherwise, there appear to be no substantial clinical or pa thological differences.