Correlations between urethral elastance and histological architecture in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

To investigate whether the properties of the flow-controlling zone (FCZ) in obstructive benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) would be affected by differences in the histological architecture of the prostate, we evaluated relationships between morphometric and urodynamic data. BPH specimens from 14 patients undergoing transurethral surgery were analysed by quantitative morphometry. The cross-sectional area and mean elastance of FCZ, together with other parameters, were calculated on a preoperative pressure-flow study. Correlations between these parameters and tissue composition were determined. Our study group comprised men with clinical and urodynamic evidence of infravesical obstruction secondary to BPH. No correlations were found between the area density or total volume of each histological element and the cross-sectional area of FCZ at peak flow rate. Neither area density nor total volume of each element correlated with the mean urethral elastance. Our results indicate that the histological architecture of the prostate in patients with obstructive BPH cannot predict the urethral elastance.