Asian J Androl 2007; 9 (2): 229–233 . 229 . Tel: +86-21-5492-2824; Fax: +86-21-5492-2825; Shanghai, China Associations among benign prostate hypertrophy, atypical adenomatous hyperplasia and latent carcinoma of the prostate Konstantinos Stamatiou 1,2 , Alevizos Alevizos 1,2,3 , Mohamed Natzar 2 , Constantinos Mihas 3 , Anargiros Mariolis 3 , Emmanouel Michalodimitrakis 4 , Fragiskos Sofras 1 1 Department of Urology, University Hospital, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion 71110, Greece 2 Department of Urology, Tzaneion General Hospital, Piraeus18536, Greece 3 Department of Medical Research, Health Center of Vyronas, Athens 16231, Greece 4 Department of Forensic Sciences, University Hospital, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion 71110, Greece Abstract Aim: To investigate the frequency of atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH) and its associations with benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) and latent histological carcinoma of the prostate (LPC) in autopsy material. Methods: Two hundred and twelve prostate specimens obtained from autopsy material were subjected to whole mount analysis in an attempt to investigate the associations among BPH, AAH and LPC. Results: Most histological carcinomas and AAH lesions were found in enlarged prostates with intense hypertrophy. No statistically significant relation was found between BPH and the main characteristics of LPC, such as tumor volume, histological differentiation and biological behavior. Our data regarding multi-focal tumors showed a tendency for multi-focal carcinomas to develop in larger prostates, and a tendency of AAH lesions to develop in larger prostates. No statistically significant relation was found between AAH and LPC. Conclusion: There seems not any causative aetiopathogenetical or topographical relation between AAH lesions and prostate adenocarcinoma. AAH lesion seems to be a well-defined mimicker of prostatic adenocarcinoma, and the reported association of AAH with prostatic carcinoma could probably be an epiphenomenon. (Asian J Androl 2007 Mar; 9: 229–233) Keywords: atypical adenomatous hyperplasia; histological prostate cancer; benign prostate hypertrophy . Original Article . DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-7262.2007.00187.x www.asiaandro.com © 2007, Asian Journal of Andrology, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Correspondence to: Dr Konstantinos Stamatiou, Department of Urology, University Hospital, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion 71110, Greece. Tel: +30-210-760-8051 Fax: +30-210-760-8053 E-mail: stamatiouk@gmail.com Received 2005-12-27 Accepted 2006-04-20 1 Introduction Atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH; also termed adenosis), is a localized proliferative lesion consisting of small amounts of atypical epithelial cells arranged in ir- regular glandular patterns. AAH lesions usually appear as compact, well-circumscribed nodules, in which the basal cell layer is often indistinguishable or discontinued. Although being of uncertain biologic significance and easily mistaken for Gleason pattern 1 or 2 prostate cancer [1], AAH lesions can be easily distinguished from carcinomas by the degree of nucleolar enlarge- ment [2]. The occurrence rate of AAH is not known,