Prostate adenocarcinoma
Author:
Mikael Häggström [note 1]
Contents
Comprehensiveness
On this resource, the following formatting is used for comprehensiveness:
- Minimal depth
- (Moderate depth)
- ((Comprehensive))
Gross processing
As prostatectomy or biopsy.
Microscopic evaluation
Screening method
- Before microscopy, look at each microscopy slide by eye, to plan the microscopy screening so as to not miss peripheral fragments.
- Screen at low power, and switch to high power when encountering glandular structures that can not otherwise be cleared. Look in particular for those surrounding nerves.
- At least if no cancer is seen, also look for inflammation.[notes 1]
Characteristics
- Relatively common and highly specific
- [1]
Eccentric nucleoli[1] (pictured example has double and eccentric nucleoli).
- Specific but relatively rare signs of adenocarcinoma
- [notes 2]
- Collagenous micronodules for acinar adenocarcinoma[1]
- Angiolymphatic invasion[1]
- Extraprostatic extension,[1] which in biopsies can be diagnoses when tumor cells are located in fatty tissue.
- Less specific findings
Mitoses: also seen in for example high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN) and prostate inflammation.[1] Picture shows adenocarcinoma with two mitoses in reactive epithelium.
Intraluminal blue mucin[1] (pictured in acinar adenocarcinoma)
Intraluminal atypical eosinophilic secretions.[1]
Intraluminal crystalloids.[3]
Glomerulations, for acinar adenocarcinoma, consisting of epithelial proliferations into one or more gland lumina, typically a cribriform tuft with a single attachment to the gland wall.[2]
- Prominent nucleoli[1]
- Nuclear enlargement
Precancerous lesions
In case of only less specific findings, consider a Prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) or an atypical small acinar proliferation (ASAP).
A PIN is where acini are architecturally benign, but individual cells display atypia. In high-grade PIN (HGPIN), the changes are similar to those of prostate cancer, whereas in low-grade (LGPIN) the changes are milder. Most pathologists do not report the presence of LGPIN.[4]
An ASAP is a lesion that is probably carcinoma but either lacks definitive diagnostic features, or is too small to be certain.[5] It should not be used for benign lesions that are just unusual looking.[5] In uncertain cases, a diagnosis of adenocarcinoma can be excluded by immunohistochemical detection of basal cells (or confirmed by absence thereof),[1] such as using the PIN-4 cocktail of stains (which consists of P504S, p63 and high-molecular-weight keratins (HMWK) such as CK5 and CK14).
Picture at left compares a PIN-4 immunohistochemistry of benign gland (left) and adenocarcinoma (right) using PIN-4. The adenocarcinoma lacks the basal epithelial cells (stained dark brown by p63 and HMWK). Also, in PIN-4 stained samples, adenocarcinoma cells generally display red cytoplasms (stained by AMACR, also known as P504S), while benign glands do not.
Subdiagnoses

The histopathologic subdiagnosis of prostate cancer has implications for the possibility and methodology of any subsequent Gleason scoring.[6] The most common histopathological subdiagnosis of prostate cancer is acinar adenocarcinoma, constituting 93% of prostate cancers.[7] The most common form of acinar adenocarcinoma, in turn, is "adenocarcinoma, not otherwise specified", also termed conventional, or usual acinar.[8]
Subdiagnosis | Relative incidence | Image | Microscopic characteristics | Immunohistochemistry | Gleason scoring | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Core biopsy |
Radical prostatectomy | ||||||
Acinar adenocarcinoma - 93%[7] |
Adenocarcinoma (not otherwise specified/ conventional/ usual acinar)[8] |
77%[notes 5] | 54%[notes 5] | ![]() |
Tumorous glands: | As usual | |
Foamy gland carcinoma | 17%[9][notes 4] | 13–23%[9][notes 4] | Based on architecture, discounting foamy cytoplasms[6] | ||||
Atrophic carcinoma | 2%[9][notes 6] | 16%[9][notes 6] | Tumorous glands: | As usual[6] | |||
Pseudohyperplastic carcinoma | 2%[9] | 11%[9] |
|
Tumorous glands: | 3+3=6[6] | ||
Microcystic carcinoma | 11%[9] | On (usually) adjacent acinar adeocarcinoma[10] | |||||
PIN-like | 1.3%[11] |
|
Tumorous glands:
|
Not recommended[6] | |||
Non acinar (or mixed acinar/ non-acinar) adenocarcinoma |
Ductal adenocarcinoma | 3% to 12.7%[12][notes 4] | ![]() |
||||
Intraductal adenocarcinoma | 2.8%[14] | ![]() H&E and CK5/6 |
|||||
Urothelial carcinoma | 0.7 to 2.8%[16] | ![]() |
Not recommended[6] | ||||
Small-cell carcinoma | 0.3–2%[18][19][notes 4] | ![]() |
Half of cases have usual acinar components[6] |
||||
Mucinous adenocarcinoma | 0.2%[16] | ![]() |
|
Tumorous glands: | 4+4=8 for irregular cribriform glands floating in mucin.[6] | ||
Signet-ring adenocarcinoma | 0.02%[20] | ![]() |
|
Tumorous glands: | Not recommended[6] | ||
Basal-cell carcinoma | 0.01%[21] | Basaloid tumor:
BCC-pattern: |
Not recommended.[6] |
Gleason scoring
Rate the dominant, or most common cell morphology (scored 1—5), in addition to the non-dominant cell pattern with the highest grade (scored 1—5).
Gleason score is as follows:[22]
- Gleason score ≤3: Only individual discrete well-formed glands
- Gleason score 4: Poorly-formed, fused and/or cribriform glands
- Gleason score 5: Lacks gland formation, or has necrosis
((In cases of Gleason pattern 3+4 and 4+3, also state the percentage of Gleason pattern 4 compared to the entire tumor area.[23]))
Grade group
(In a moderately comprehensive report, also state the overall grade group for the adenocarcinoma:[22]
- Grade group 1 (Gleason score ≤6) - Only individual discrete well-formed glands
- Grade group 2 (Gleason score 3+4=7) - Predominantly well-formed glands with a lesser component of poorly-formed, fused and/or cribriform glands
- Grade group 3 (Gleason score 4+3=7) - Predominantly poorly-formed, fused, and/or cribriform glands with a lesser component of well-formed glands
- Grade group 4 (Gleason score 8), either of the following
- Only poorly-formed, fused and/or cribriform glands
- Predominantly well-formed glands with a lesser component that lacks glands
- Predominantly lacking glands with a lesser component of well-formed glands
- Grade group 5 (Gleason scores 9-10): Any area that lacks gland formation, or with necrosis)
Staging
Depending on sample type:
- Multiple biopsy specimens: Adenocarcinoma presence in how many of the biopsies
- Prostatectomy: Stage by TNM:
From the AJCC 7th edition[24] and International Union Against Cancer (UICC) 7th edition.[25]
- Evaluation of the (primary) tumor ('T')
- TX: cannot evaluate the primary tumor
- T0: no evidence of tumor
- T1: tumor present, but not detectable clinically or with imaging
- T1a: tumor was incidentally found in 5% or less of prostate tissue resected (for other reasons)
- T1b: tumor was incidentally found in greater than 5% of prostate tissue resected
- T1c: tumor was found in a needle biopsy performed due to an elevated serum PSA
- T2: the tumor can be felt (palpated) on examination, but has not spread outside the prostate
- T2a: the tumor is in half or less than half of one of the prostate gland's two lobes
- T2b: the tumor is in more than half of one lobe, but not both
- T2c: the tumor is in both lobes but within the prostatic capsule
- T3: the tumor has spread through the prostatic capsule (if it is only part-way through, it is still T2)
- T3a: the tumor has spread through the capsule on one or both sides
- T3b: the tumor has invaded one or both seminal vesicles
- T4: the tumor has invaded other nearby structures
- Evaluation of the regional lymph nodes ('N')
- NX: cannot evaluate the regional lymph nodes
- N0: there has been no spread to the regional lymph nodes
- N1: there has been spread to the regional lymph nodes
- Evaluation of distant metastasis ('M')
- MX: cannot evaluate distant metastasis
- M0: there is no distant metastasis
- M1: there is distant metastasis
- M1a: the cancer has spread to lymph nodes beyond the regional ones
- M1b: the cancer has spread to bone
- M1c: the cancer has spread to other sites (regardless of bone involvement)
- Further information: Evaluation
Report
- Diagnosis
- Gleason score, and optionally grade group
- Extent
- Prostatectomy: Stage.
- Prostate biopsies: Number of biopsies where tumor is found
- Both prostatectomy and biopsies: Percentage of tumor involvement (see Percentage section below).
- Any perineural or angiolymphatic invasion.
- ((Any inflammation.[notes 1]))
(Prostate, left apex, needle biopsy:) Prostatic adenocarcinoma, Gleason score 3+3 = 6 (grade group 1), involving 30% of out of one core. |
If the microscopy and gross description give discordant number of cores, you may use the gross number.
Percentage
In prostatectomies, percentage of involvement can be estimated by marking the tumor edges with a marker pen under the microscope, and looking at the slide without microscope to roughly estimate the percentage of involvement. The total percentage can be calculated as the average of the involvement of each slide.
In biopsies, percentage of involvement can be estimated by first estimating what percentage of the field-of-view diameter the tumorous area occupies, or how many field-of-view diameters it occupies, divided by how many field-of-view diameters the entire biopsy occupies. When there is at least 1 mm of non-involved segment between separate tumor foci in a biopsy, give the percentage as if the tumor involved such segments too, but denote it as "discontinuously" involving it.
For cancers, generally include a synoptic report, such as per College of American Pathologists (CAP) protocols at cap.org/protocols-and-guidelines.
See also: General notes on reporting
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Inflammation can explain for example a high PSA value in the absence of adenocarcinoma, so its reporting is usually only needed in such cases.
- ↑ "Rare" here refers to prevalence at least in core biopsies.(Cruz 2016)
- ↑ Glands adjacent to and indenting nerves is not sufficient as a diagnostic criterion by itself. Glands partially surrounding a nerve is an indication of carcinoma. (Stanford)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 At least where noted, the numbers include cases where the pattern is found admixed with usual acinar adenocarcinoma.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Numbers for usual acinar adenocarcinoma do not include mixed patterns with other subdiagnoses.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Number refers to sporadic atrophic pattern adenocarcinoma.
- ↑ For a full list of contributors, see article history. Creators of images are attributed at the image description pages, seen by clicking on the images. See Patholines:Authorship for details.
Main page
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Cruz, Andrea O.; Santana, Amanda L. S.; Santos, Andréia C.; Athanazio, Daniel A. (2016). "Frequency of the morphological criteria of prostate adenocarcinoma in 387 consecutive prostate needle biopsies: emphasis on the location and number of nucleoli
". Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial. doi: . ISSN 1676-2444.
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Robert V Rouse MD. Prostatic Adenocarcinoma. Stanford Medical School. Last update 2/2/16
- ↑ Svatek, R S; Karam, J A; Rogers, T E; Shulman, M J; Margulis, V; Benaim, E A (2007). "Intraluminal crystalloids are highly associated with prostatic adenocarcinoma on concurrent biopsy specimens ". Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases 10 (3): 279–282. doi: . ISSN 1365-7852.
- ↑ Stanley A Brosman, MD. Precancerous Lesions of the Prostate. Medscape. Updated: Feb 26, 2020
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 . Prostatic Adenocarcinoma - Atypical Small Acinar Proliferation (ASAP). Stanford Medical School. Retrieved on 2020-09-14.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 6.25 6.26 6.27 6.28 6.29 6.30 6.31 6.32 6.33 6.34 6.35 6.36 6.37 6.38 6.39 6.40 6.41 6.42 6.43 6.44 6.45 6.46 6.47 6.48 6.49 6.50 6.51 6.52 6.53 6.54 6.55 6.56 6.57 6.58 6.59 6.60 "The pathology of unusual subtypes of prostate cancer ". Chin. J. Cancer Res. 28 (1): 130–43. February 2016. doi: . PMID 27041935.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Baig, Faraz A.; Hamid, Amna; Mirza, Talat; Syed, Serajuddaula (2015). "Ductal and Acinar Adenocarcinoma of Prostate: Morphological and Immunohistochemical Characterization ". Oman Medical Journal 30 (3): 162–166. doi: . ISSN 1999768X.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 . Prostatic Adenocarcinoma. Stanford University School of Medicine. Retrieved on 2019-10-30.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 Humphrey, Peter A (2018). "Variants of acinar adenocarcinoma of the prostate mimicking benign conditions ". Modern Pathology 31 (S1): 64–70. doi: . ISSN 0893-3952.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Yaskiv, Oksana; Cao, Dengfeng; Humphrey, Peter A. (2010). "Microcystic Adenocarcinoma of the Prostate: A Variant of Pseudohyperplastic and Atrophic Patterns ". The American Journal of Surgical Pathology 34 (4): 556–561. doi: . ISSN 0147-5185.
- ↑ Zhou, Ming (2018). "High-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, PIN-like carcinoma, ductal carcinoma, and intraductal carcinoma of the prostate ". Modern Pathology 31 (S1): 71–79. doi: . ISSN 0893-3952.
- ↑ "The update of prostatic ductal adenocarcinoma ". Chin. J. Cancer Res. 28 (1): 50–7. February 2016. doi: . PMID 27041926.
- ↑ Robert V Rouse (2012-01-06). Prostatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Stanford University School of Medicine.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Magers, Martin; Kunju, Lakshmi Priya; Wu, Angela (2015). "Intraductal Carcinoma of the Prostate: Morphologic Features, Differential Diagnoses, Significance, and Reporting Practices ". Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine 139 (10): 1234–1241. doi: . ISSN 0003-9985.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Roberts, Jordan A.; Zhou, Ming; Park, Yong Wok; Ro, Jae Y. (2013). "Intraductal Carcinoma of Prostate: A Comprehensive and Concise Review ". Korean Journal of Pathology 47 (4): 307. doi: . ISSN 1738-1843.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Grignon, David J (2004). "Unusual subtypes of prostate cancer ". Modern Pathology 17 (3): 316–327. doi: . ISSN 0893-3952.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Robert V Rouse. Papillary Urothelial (Transitional Cell) Carcinoma. Stanford University School of Medicine. Original posting/updates: 10/20/12, 12/29/12
- ↑ 0.3%-1%: Page 77 in:Beltran, Antonio (2017). Pathology of the prostate : an algorithmic approach . Cambridge, United Kingdom New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-18565-3. OCLC 1011514854.
- ↑ 0.5-2%: Kumar, Kishore; Ahmed, Rafeeq; Chukwunonso, Chime; Tariq, Hassan; Niazi, Masooma; Makker, Jasbir; Ihimoyan, Ariyo (2018). "Poorly Differentiated Small-Cell-Type Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Prostate: A Case Report and Literature Review ". Case Reports in Oncology 11 (3): 676–681. doi: . ISSN 1662-6575.
- ↑ Wang, Jue; Wang, Fen Wei; Hemstreet, George P. (2011). "Younger Age Is an Independent Predictor for Poor Survival in Patients with Signet Ring Prostate Carcinoma ". Prostate Cancer 2011: 1–8. doi: . ISSN 2090-3111.
- ↑ Ninomiya, Sahoko; Kawahara, Takashi; Iwashita, Hiromichi; Iwamoto, Genta; Takamoto, Daiji; Mochizuki, Taku; Kuroda, Shinnosuke; Takeshima, Teppei; et al. (2018). "Prostate Basal Cell Carcinoma: A Case Report ". Case Reports in Oncology 11 (1): 138–142. doi: . ISSN 1662-6575.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 . New Contemporary Prostate Cancer Grading System. Johns Hopkins University, Department of Pathology. Retrieved on 2020-09-21.
- ↑ Sharma M, Miyamoto H (2018). "Percent Gleason pattern 4 in stratifying the prognosis of patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer. ". Transl Androl Urol 7 (Suppl 4): S484-S489. doi: . PMID 30363387. PMC: 6178316. Archived from the original. .
- ↑ American Joint Committee on Cancer. Edge, Stephen B, ed. (2010). AJCC cancer staging manual. (7th ed.). New York: Springer. p. 457–468. ISBN 9780387884400.
- ↑ . TNM | UICC (in en). Union for International Cancer Control. Retrieved on 11 November 2017.
Image sources