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MORPHOMETRIC STUDIES OF THE LEYDIG CELLS IN ELDERLY MEN WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE HISTOLOGY OF THE PROSTATE
Author(s) -
Harbitz Thorstein B.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
acta pathologica microbiologica scandinavica section a pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0365-4184
DOI - 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1973.tb03539.x
Subject(s) - hyperplasia , prostate , hormone , autopsy , medicine , histology , carcinoma , endocrinology , pathology , physiology , cancer
As part of a comprehensive study of morphological characteristics of the testes, the pituitary gland and the adrenal glands in men with prostatic hyperplasia and neoplasia, Leydig cell weight (W L ) was estimated and analysed in a consecutive autopsy series of 172 men aged 40 years or more. W L . varied widely at all ages and decreased gradually with advancing age. Protracted illness before death and treatment with steroid hormones other than oestrogens were associated with reduced W L . In patients with prostatic carcinoma, treatment with oestrogenic hormones apparently caused a rapid disappearance of the Leydig cells. Both high and low weights were observed in patients with benign nodular hyperplasia (BNH) alone and in those with carcinoma (C) of the prostate, and no convincing relationship between W L per se and the presence of C or BNH was demonstrable at simple and multiple regression analysis. This implies that an estimation of W L as such does not discriminate between cases of C and BNH. A negative and statistically significant correlation between WL and age was demonstrated in patients with BNH alone and in those with BNH + G.