Case profile: Ectopic bone formation in prostatic carcinoma

URORADIOLOGY

CASE PROFILE:

ECTOPIC

BONE FORMATION

IN

PROSTATIC CARCINOMA

1 PROFILE 1

Ectopic bone formation associated with transitional cell metaplasia is not uncommon, but this report concerns a patient with metastatic pro-

static adenocarcinoma in whom ectopic bone formed in the pelvic floor. The patient, a seventy-five-year-old male, presented with urinary retention. On rectal examination the prostate was noted to be hard with fixation and extension into the surrounding tissues. Acid and alkaline phosphatase values were normal. A plain film of the abdomen revealed extensive soft tissue calcification in the pelvic area (Fig. 1). This was not present on an x-ray fihn taken two years earlier in the course of a barium enema study. The patient died two and one-half years after presentation despite therapy with stilbestrol and subsequent orchiectomy. The roentgenographic appearance of the pelvic floor did not change in the period of observation. At autopsy, there was widespread metastatic carcinoma of the prostate. The pelvic floor tissues showed a marked increase in histiocytes, as well as degeneration and vacuolization of muscle and fat tissue. Nearly all cells showed marked calcium deposition explaining the appearance of the area on x-ray fihn. This roentgenogram illustrates an unusual degree and etiology of ectopic bone formation. George

FIGURE 1. Plain jilm of abdomen site calcijication of pelvic area.

UROLOGY

/ JUNE 1978 / VOLUME

revealing

exten-

XI, NUMBER6

B. Perlstein, M.D. 301 East Springfield Station A, Box 2803 Champaign, Illinois 61820

651