[Morphological classification and comparison of the different types of stromal nodules in benign prostatic hyperplasia]

Abstract

The expression of immunohistochemical markers for cytoskeletal differentiation and that of neuroendocrine- and immunological cells showed in general the same tendency in the 4 types of prostatic stromal nodules: missing or low expression in immature-mesenchymal-, distinct augmentation in fibroblastic-, a maximum in fibro-muscular- and a slight decline in smooth-muscular nodules. These results are in agreement with developmental sequences, revealed by immunohistochemical investigations of fetal prostates, and seem to confirm the hypothesis that the four types of stromal nodules represent successive degrees of maturation, recapitulating ontogenetic processes.