Secondary solid neoplasms of the prostate: a clinico-pathological series of 51 cases

The incidence, presentation, and macroscopic and histological features of secondary solid neoplasms of the prostate gland are described with reference to their differential diagnoses. A continuous series of autopsy and surgical cases from the Royal London Hospital from 1907 to the present yielded a total of 51 secondary neoplasms involving the prostate: 24 at post-mortem examination and 27 surgical specimens. The histology of these specimens was re-examined. In 34 cases, tumour reached the prostate by direct spread: 29 from the bladder and 5 from the rectum. The most common primary sites of metastases to the prostate were lung (eight cases) and pancreas (two cases). There were isolated examples of metastases from the bladder, rectum, skin (malignant melanoma), breast, eye (malignant melanoma), adrenal cortex and gallbladder. Secondary neoplasms represented 2.1% of all neoplasms in surgical specimens, a similar proportion of the total number of malignant solid neoplasms as secondary tumours at other sites in the genitourinary tract. The patients were usually symptomatic, presenting with prostatism, haematuria or pelvic pain, almost always in those with widely disseminated disease.