[Benign hyperplasia of the prostate--an autopsy analysis]

The great number of the forms of hyperplasia of the prostate gland which became known recently requires a systematic histological investigation concerning their incidence and age distribution and as preliminary performance for the clarification of the problems of the frequency of prostate gland carcinoma. For this purpose we investigated by means of the serial section technique on macrosections the prostate glands of 450 males from the 40th year of age. Taking as a basis a new subdivision of the hyperplasias worked out in accordance with Dhom (1985) we found the following average frequencies: simple hyperplasia 37% (macroscopically) and 69% (histologically), fibromatous hyperplasia 29%, adenomatous hyperplasia 21%, parvicellular hyperplasia 27.3%, cribriformous hyperplasia 7%, lobular postatrophic hyperplasia 40%, panacinous postatrophic hyperplasia 58%, focal (intra)acinous postatrophic hyperplasia 26.4%. An age-depending increase of frequency is common to all forms of hyperplasia. The importance of the knowledge of the various forms of hyperplasia develops from the necessity of their differential-diagnostic delimitation from the carcinoma and their probably precancerous potency.