title: Prostatic acid phosphatase levels (enzymatic method) from completely sectioned, clinically benign, whole prostates.
abstract: 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 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, of 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 suggest 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Veterans Administration Medical Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48105, USA.
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Brawn
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Jay
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kuhl
authors.forename: V O
authors.initials: VO
authors.lastname: Speights
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riggs
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Lind
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Coffield
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weaver
mesh_terms: D000135:Acid Phosphatase / Q000032:analysis*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001344:Autopsy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D006965:Hyperplasia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011467:Prostate / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D000135:Acid Phosphatase