Transitional cell carcinoma of the prostate. A clinical morphological study

Transitional cell carcinoma of the prostate developed in 6 patients without an antecedent history of a vesical malignant lesion or a coexisting bladder tumor. The diagnosis was established late in the disease and treatment with radiotherapy did not appear to improve survival. In 14 other patients, prostatic lesions were noted either at the time of treatment for a noncontiguous bladder lesion (10 patients) or asynchronously in patients with previous bladder malignancies (4 patients). Conservative treatment is advocated if the lesions are confined to the ductal epithelium. Radical treatment using either radiotherapy, surgical extirpation, or a combination of both is indicated when stroma invasion is documented. Careful histologic examination of the tissue from these 20 patients suggests that in both groups of patients the lesions began as carcinoma in situ in the prostatic ductal epithelium with subsequent breakthrough into the prostatic stoma.