Prevalence of prostate lesions on autopsy in Isfahan,Iran, a cross sectional study

Introduction:: Prostate cancer remains an important public health concern in Western countries and an emerging malignancy in developing nations. Prostate cancer incidence is dependent on efforts to detect the disease and geographical locations. This autopsy based study was conducted to determine the prevalence of prostatic lesion (Benign-Malignant) among Iranian males. Materials and methods: Prostate glands within ۲۴ hours of death were removed en-block with the seminal vesicles from ۴۴۷ consecutive males older than ۴۰ who were referred to the Isfahan center of Legal Medicine for autopsy study following a death cause other than prostatic cancer in ۲۰۱۶ to ۲۰۱۸. A single pathologist reviewed all slides for identifying Benign and malignant lesions as well as location of them. We interviewed with first degree relatives of corpus and filled up the questionnaire about patients’ demographics, past medical and drug history, social habits, co morbidities. Femur and abdomen circumference were metered for each cases. The results were analyzed by SPSS software (version ۲۱). Results: Histopathology study was performed on ۴۴۷ cases (۵۸.۵ ± ۱۲.۷ years old).Of ۴۴۷ patients, ۱۸۳(۴۰.۹%) had no pathology, ۲۳۳(۵۲ %) had benign and ۳۱ cases(۶.۹ % ) had malignant prostate lesions. Occult adenocarcinoma was detected in ۶ cases (۳.۱%). The highest pathological lesion ۱۴۱(۳۱.۵%) including benign or malignant was detected in the group ۵۰-۵۹ years of age .Most of the tumors were located in posterior lobe of prostate and they were more frequent in older cases (>۶۰ yrs) and heavier prostates (p value <۰.۰۵). There was no statistically significant relation between age, education, income, marriage status, number of children and femur circumference with type of prostate lesion. Conclusion: The incidence of prostate cancer among our population was dramatically higher than in other countries of Asia. Environmental, lifestyle and dietary factors may be implicated in this relatively high incidence of prostate cancer. The prostate that is not routinely examined in forensic investigations should be examined in traumatic fractures of the elderly because cancer might alter injury severity.