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Prostatic acid phosphatase levels (enzymatic method) from completely sectioned, clinically benign, whole prostates
Author(s) -
Brawn P. N.,
Jay D. W.,
Foster D. M.,
Kuhl D.,
Speights V. O.,
Johnson F. H.,
Riggs M.,
Lind M. L.,
Coffield K. S.,
Weaver B.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
the prostate
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.295
H-Index - 123
eISSN - 1097-0045
pISSN - 0270-4137
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0045(199605)28:5<295::aid-pros4>3.0.co;2-b
Subject(s) - acid phosphatase , prostatic acid phosphatase , prostate , enzyme , medicine , alkaline phosphatase , pathology , biology , endocrinology , biochemistry , cancer
Clinically benign, whole, untrimmed prostates were obtained from 104 patients at autopsy, completely sectioned, and examined microscopically. The histological and gross findings of the prostate were correlated with premortem prostatic acid phosphatase levels (PAP, enzymatic method, ACA, Dupont Co.) to determine how often carcinoma of the prostate (CAP) affected PAP levels and to identify other findings within the prostate associated with elevated PAP levels. Sixty (58%) prostates did not have CAP, 34 (33%) had CAP smaller than 1 ml in volume, and 10 (10%) had CAP larger than 1 ml in volume. PAP levels were elevated (greater than 1 U/L) in 8 of the 60 (13%) prostates without CAP, in 2 of the 34 (6%) prostates with CAP smaller than 1 ml, and in 1 of the 10 (10%) prostates with CAP larger than 1 ml. These differences were not statistically significant. Likewise, a statistically significant correlation between PAP levels and patient age, patient race, severe inflammation, or high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) was not found. However, there was a statistically significant correlation between PAP levels and prostate weight ( P < 0.0001). This study suggests that PAP cannot distinguish between patients with clinically undetected CAP and patients without CAP. Furthermore, elevated PAP levels are often not due to metastatic CAP and additional evidence should be present, even in patients with known CAP, before an elevated PAP level is considered to be conclusive evidence of metastatic CAP. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.