Etude morphologique de la capsule prostatique humaine

The morphology of the prostatic capsule was studied in 4 cadavers. In each case, the prostate was obtained in one block with the basal portion of the bladder, the seminal vesicles, the anterior wall of the rectum and the periprostatic connective tissue. Part of the material was plastinated, while another part was studied by the current histological methods. The prostate is surrounded by a connective tissue with abundant smooth muscle fibrocells, continuous with the stromal septa which subdivide the glandular tissue. A rich presence of vascular spaces was identifiable. In some regions, and particularly in the postero-superior one, a real capsule was not identifiable. The connective tissue seemed to constitute a continuum medium between the prostatic gland and the neighbouring organs. Particularly, a connective barrier between the prostate and the seminal vesicle was completely absent. This observations is consistently relevant, since the extracapsular spreading of prostatic tumours and the diffusion to the seminal vesicles is considered as a basic prognostic factor; on the contrary, due to the absence of a capsular barrier, a prostatic tumour which onsets in the posterior region should be considered as precociously extracapsular.