Histologic differences in benign prostate hyperplasia between Chinese and American men

BACKGROUND: This investigation sought to determine morphologic differences between Chinese and Americans with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), in an admixture of stroma, epithelium, and luminal spaces. METHODS: Adjacent sections of simple prostatectomy specimens from China and the U.S. were stained to highlight the stroma and epithelium. Image analysis was performed on random fields. RESULTS: Chinese tissue had higher glandular densities (mean = 12.5 acini/mm2 vs. 6.2 acini/mm2; P < 0.0001), while American samples had higher percent stroma (mean = 66% vs. 51%; P = 0.0003). Mean luminal cell heights in the Chinese and American prostate acini were 11.7 and 19.0 microns, respectively (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate significant histologic variation in BPH between Chinese and American men undergoing simple prostatectomy. These differences may provide a focus for investigating the epidemiological variation in clinical BPH and carcinoma between our two countries, and could have applications in clinical management of symptomatic BPH.