Are Partin tables suitable for Chinese patients with prostate cancer? / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Recently, the number of patients with prostate cancer who needed to be treated with radical prostatectomy increased rapidly in China. There is still a difference between clinical staging and the post-operative final pathologic staging; hence, an excellent tool for accurately predicting the pathologic stages of prostate cancer is needed urgently in clinical practice. The Partin tables are the most popular and widely used tool for predicting the pathologic stages of prostate cancer because of its high accuracy and ease of implementation. The aim of this study was to externally validate the accuracy of the three versions of the Partin tables in predicting the post-operative pathologic stages in Chinese patients with prostate cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We retrospectively analyzed the data from 203 patients with prostate cancer who underwent radical prostatectomies between June 2000 and May 2012. The accuracies of the three versions of the Partin tables in predicting the post-operative pathologic stages in Chinese patients with prostate cancer were evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Using the 1997, 2001, and 2007 Partin tables for predicting the current cases, the AUC of organ confinement (OC) was 0.877, 0.788, and 0.726; the AUC of extracapsular extension (ECE) was 0.525, 0.615, and 0.608; the AUC of seminal vesicle invasion (SVI) was 0.875, 0.649, and 0.820; and the AUC of pelvic lymph node invasion (LNI) was 0.808, 0.758, and 0.735 respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The accuracies of the three versions of Partin tables in predicting OC, SVI, and LNI were good, especially the 2001 Partin table for SVI. In contrast, the accuracy of the three versions of the Partin tables in predicting ECE was fair. The 1997 Partin table was much better than the 2007 table in predicting OC, and the 2001 table in predicting SVI. The 2007 Partin table did not show any advantages.</p>

Estrogen receptor expression in adrenocortical carcinoma / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare but highly malignant tumor, and its diagnosis is mostly delayed and prognosis is poor. We report estrogen receptor (ER) expression in this tumor and our clinical experiences with 17 ACC cases.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The data of the 17 patients (9 females and 8 males, age range from 16 to 69 years, mean age of 42.6 years) with ACC were reviewed, and symptoms, diagnostic procedures, treatment, and results of follow-up were evaluated. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect ER expression in tumor samples from the 17 patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>At the time of diagnosis, 4 tumors were classified as Stage I, 4 as Stage II, 3 as Stage III, and 6 as Stage IV. Eight patients demonstrated positive nuclear immunostaining of ER. The prognosis of patients with ER positive was significantly better (P<0.05) than that of patients with ER negative, with 1- and 5-year survival rates at 86% and 60% for ER-positive patients, and 38% and 0% for ER-negative patients, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>ER-positivity may be one of the factors associated with a worse prognosis of ACC.</p>

Diagnostic value of lesion-directed prostate biopsy under TRUS in early detection of prostate cancer / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate lesion-directed biopsy in improving the detection rate of early prostate cancer (PCa) and in differentiating PCa from other prostate pathological changes.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We performed TRUS-guided prostate biopsy for 95 patients suspected of PCa, each subjected to extended random biopsy plus lesion-directed biopsy, and analyzed the sonographic characteristics and pathological findings.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>PCa was detected in 35 of the patients (36.8%), including 16 hypoechoic (45.7%), 4 hyperechoic (11.4%), 10 isoechoic (28.6%) and 5 mixed hetero-echoic lesions (14.3%). Of the 35 PCa cases, 17 (46.2%) were within T2b, 70.6% (12/17) of which were detected by lesion-directed biopsy and 29.4% (5/17) by sextant biopsy, the former obviously higher than the latter (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Lesion-directed prostate biopsy under TRUS can significantly improve the early diagnosis of prostate cancer, increase convenience and reduce patients' pain, but is not sufficient to replace traditional sextant biopsy.</p>

Androgen receptor expression in clinically localized prostate cancer: immunohistochemistry study and literature review / 亚洲男科学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>AIM</b>To evaluate androgen receptor (AR) expression in clinically localized prostate cancer (PCa).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Specimens were studied from 232 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostatic adenocarcinoma without neoadjuvant hormonal therapy or chemotherapy at our institution between November 2001 and June 2005. Immunohistochemical study was performed using an anti-human AR monoclonal antibody AR441. The mean AR density in the hot spots of different histological areas within the same sections were compared and the correlation of malignant epithelial AR density with clinicopathological parameters such as Gleason score, tumor, nodes and metastases (TNM) stage and pre-treatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value was assessed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>AR immunoreactivity was almost exclusively nuclear and was observed in tumor cells, non-neoplastic glandular epithelial cells and a proportion of peritumoral and interglandular stromal cells. Mean percentage of AR-positive epithelial cells was significantly higher in cancer tissues than that in normal prostate tissues (mean +/- SD, 90.0% +/- 9.3% vs. 85.3 +/- ?9.7%, P < 0.001). The histological score yielded similar results. The percentage of AR immunoreactive prostatic cancer nuclei and histological score were not correlated with existing parameters such as Gleason score, tumor, nodes and metastases stage and pre-treatment PSA value in this surgically treated cohort.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results of the present study suggest that there may be limited clinical use for determining AR expression (if evaluated in hot spots) in men with localized PCa.</p>