Clinical and morphometrical studies on grading of prostatic carcinoma

textabstractIn The Netherlands prostatic carcinoma is the third most frequent malignancy in men, after pulmonary and colorectal carcinoma and it is even the second cause of death from cancer in men [1]. In 1984 1,782 men died of prostatic carcinoma, which accounted for 9.2 % of the total number of deaths from cancer in men [2]. In the United States it is even the second most common malignancy in males and it is the third most common cause of death in men older than the age of 55 [3]. There is a slight increase in mortality from prostatic cancer: in 1975/1976 22.8 per 100,000 inhabitants of the Netherlands died of prostatic cancer. In 1984 this figure was 25 per 100,000 [1 ,2]. One of the causes of the increasing incidence of prostatic carcinoma is the increased life expectancy of the general population during the last decades. Prostatic carcinoma is almost exclusively a disease of elderly men with its peak incidence between 75 and 80 years of age. As in the previous decades many causes of death at a younger age (especially serious infectious diseases) were eliminated, more men can reach an age in which prostatic cancer usually manifests itself. A large number of investigations on the etiology, histology, biochemistry, therapeutic possibilities and prognosis of prostatic carcinoma has been reported during recent years and many are still being carried out. Some milestones have been reached during the efforts of achieving control of prostatic carcinoma. In 1905 Hugh H. Young [4] gave his first report on radical perineal prostatectomy as a cure for prostate cancer and in 1941 Huggins and coworkers [5, 6] demonstrated the dramatic effects of estrogens as a hormonal therapy for prostatic carcinoma. Both therapies are still used widely all over the world.