Prostatic histology in secondary transurethral resection of the prostate

Human benign prostatic hyperplasia consists of 3 major components, stromal and glandular tissue, and glandular lumen. To our knowledge morphometric analysis of prostatic tissue from patients who have undergone a secondary transurethral resection of the prostate has never been reported. Quantification of these histological components might aid in selecting treatment for patients with recurrent urinary symptoms following transurethral resection of the prostate. Transurethral resection specimens from 13 consecutive patients who had undergone prostatectomy twice were stained by the Masson trichrome method. Quantitative morphometric analysis was performed using computer image analyzing software. The mean total area was 15.9%, 15.4% and 68.7% for glandular lumen, and glandular and stromal areas, respectively, in the initial transurethral resection specimens and 13.3%, 14.1% and 72.6%, respectively, for secondary transurethral resection of the prostate. There was no significant difference among the 3 morphometric components in the 2 prostatectomy specimens with respect to percent area, within subject variability and skewness (all p values > or = 0.38). Our study confirms previous findings that the majority of initial transurethral resection specimens are predominantly stroma. Furthermore, our study indicates that the percent distributions between initial and secondary transurethral resection of the prostate with respect to the 3 major histological components are not different, suggesting that the stromal, glandular and glandular lumen content of an initial transurethral resection specimen is representative of the recurrent prostatic tissue.