Jonmarker Sara, Valdman Alexander, Lindberg Anna, Hellström Magnus, Egevad Lars
Department of Oncology and Pathology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, 171 76, Sweden.
Virchows Arch. 2006 Sep;449(3):297-301. doi: 10.1007/s00428-006-0259-5. Epub 2006 Aug 15.
Prostate cancer volume correlates with stage, grade, and progression after prostatectomy. When tumor volume is measured planimetrically, results are multiplied by a correction factor to compensate for tissue shrinkage caused by processing. Injection of formalin into prostatectomy specimens was suggested for improved fixation. Our aim was to investigate how this affects the prostate volume. We studied 142 radical prostatectomy specimens. All prostates were immersed in 10% formalin. In 84 prostates (59%) we also injected 20 ml of formalin before routine fixation. The prostates were weighed unfixed after injection and after final fixation. The specimens were sliced and totally embedded. The transverse diameters of the prostates were measured on unfixed specimens and microscopic sections. The average weight loss after final fixation was 5.8 and 8.6% for formalin-injected specimens and standard-fixed specimens, respectively (p<0.001). However, when total shrinkage was estimated from the transverse diameters, there was no difference related to fixation technique (p=0.59). The average linear shrinkage was 4.5%, corresponding to a volume correction factor of 1.15. We conclude that formalin injection for fixation of prostate tissue does not influence tumor volume calculation compared to conventional fixation.
前列腺癌体积与前列腺切除术后的分期、分级及进展相关。当采用平面测量法测量肿瘤体积时，测量结果需乘以一个校正因子以补偿处理过程中导致的组织收缩。有人建议向前列腺切除标本中注射福尔马林以改善固定效果。我们的目的是研究这对前列腺体积有何影响。我们研究了142个前列腺根治性切除标本。所有前列腺均浸泡于10%福尔马林中。在84个前列腺（59%）中，我们在常规固定前还注射了20 ml福尔马林。在注射后及最终固定后对未固定的前列腺进行称重。将标本切片并全部包埋。在未固定的标本及显微镜切片上测量前列腺的横径。福尔马林注射标本和标准固定标本在最终固定后的平均重量损失分别为5.8%和8.6%（p<0.001）。然而，当根据横径估计总收缩率时，与固定技术无关（p=0.59）。平均线性收缩率为4.5%，对应体积校正因子为1.15。我们得出结论，与传统固定相比，注射福尔马林固定前列腺组织对肿瘤体积计算没有影响。
