Morphometric evaluation of the human prostate

In order to clarify the ageing-related histological changes in the human pr ostate, a quantitative morphometric analysis was performed. Complete prosta tes were obtained at autopsy from 281 men (aged 20-84 years) who died in tr affic accidents and presented no clinical symptoms of prostatic disease. Th e prostates were classified as: histologically normal (n = 182), with nodul ar hyperplasia (n = 42), with intraepithelial neoplasia (n = 40) and carcin omatous with low Gleason grade (n = 20). Each prostate was divided into thr ee regions (periurethral, central and peripheral) and the volume of each re gion, as well as the average volume occupied by stroma and epithelium in ea ch region were quantified. For each parameter, the average values for each age group were compared. In the histologically normal prostates, an increas e with ageing in the total volume and the volume occupied by the central re gion were observed; these increases were mainly caused by an increase in th e stromal volume of the central region in men after 30 years of age. No his tologically 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 f luctuation in the total volume throughout ageing was observed. Prostates wi th intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and carcinoma were observed in men aged >20 years and the total volume and those of each prostatic region showed mu ltiple variations, except for the eighth decade where a marked increase wit h regard to that of the previous decades was observed.