title: Evaluation of prostate cancer staging in organ donors: intraoperative histology on periglandular soft tissues-a proposal.
abstract: An histopathologic screening method for prostate cancer assessment in organ donors is crucial because of the widening of the donor pool to older individuals. Evaluation of cancer grading with multiple biopsies is fundamental in the cases of abnormal prostate-specific antigen (PSA) values and suspect ultrasound findings. However, multiple biopsies may fail to represent the whole neoplasia, and grading may be difficult particularly because there may not be information about capsular penetration. Since October 2007, 20 prostate autopsy specimens were submitted to an histopathologic screening method of the entire prostate based on extemporary frozen section analysis (maximum 75 minutes) of shavings of samples of the lateral surfaces of the prostate gland: namely, approximately 5 samples or 7 in the case of a large gland. We produced 3-mm-thick step sections at three levels: the first was immediately taken at the cutting level, and then 30-microm sections were discarded. The following three levels of 5 microm intervals for 10 sections for each level were evaluated. There were 7 cases of undiagnosed prostate cancer, three of which were demonstrated on frozen sections with neoplastic foci of extraglandular infiltration within connective and adipose tissues outside the gland. No neoplasia was present in the other 13 cases. In all cases, the final diagnosis was confirmed by the extemporary analysis. Our goal was to confirm the optimal number of samples that were representative of the whole prostatic contour, to define time to diagnosis and to evaluate reproducibility of frozen-section histopathologic screening compared with paraffin sections. This novel approach should permit a more refined risk-benefit analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University Hospital Udine, Udine, Italy. avellini.claudio@aoud.sanita.fvg.it
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Avellini
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Baccarani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Orsaria
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Adani
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bresadola
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lorenzin
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bresadola
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Beltrami
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000473:pathology; D001706:Biopsy; D005629:Frozen Sections; D006801:Humans; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011467:Prostate / Q000473:pathology*; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014019:Tissue Donors
chemical_list: D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen