[Neuroendocrine cancers of the prostate]

This article is a transcription of several papers on neuroendocrine cancers of the prostate presented to the Uropathology Club in Angers in 1990. It consists of three parts: Firstly, a study of neuroendocrine cells in various organs of the human body, followed by the demonstration of these cells in the normal and pathological prostate. The second part reports 3 cases of neuroendocrine cancers as they are observed in routine practice. A total of 66 cases of pure neuroendocrine cancers have been reported to date in the English language literature. This type of cancer is characterised by a rapid, hormone-resistant course with the development of multiple metastases, frequently visceral. Periods of remission in response to chemotherapy may be observed in some cases. The third part concerns the systematic demonstration of neuroendocrine cells in prostatic adenocarcinoma. The percentage of neuroendocrine cells demonstrated by various histological techniques is directly correlated to an increasingly severe prognosis of the cancer.