ABSTRACT
The term “carcinoid” was introduced by Obendorfer in 1907 to describe a morphologically distinctive group of tumors originating from the argentaffin (neuroendocrine) cells of the small intestine. The APUD-concept of Pearse explains the derivation of carcinoid tumors from a wide variety of organs. Several cases of primary prostatic carcinoids have been documented. Many of the reported cases were associated with adenocarcinoma of the prostate. In some of these tumors the neoplastic cells contained argentaffin and/or argyrophil granules. In the tumor designated as “diffuse carcinoid of prostate”, neither argentaffin nor argyrophil granules were present. A conspicuous finding was the presence of prominent lamellar bodies in some of the cells. These structures were considered to represent a form of crinophagy, lysosomal disposal of excess secretory granules in the affected cells. It was theorized that the diversity and morphologic complexity of these endocrine-paracrine cells indicate that they play a major role in normal and abnormal conditions of the prostate and prostatic urethra.
