# Acinar adenocarcinoma of the prostate

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/prostate-acinar-adenocarcinoma/  
OnCo record `prostate-acinar-adenocarcinoma` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The ordinary type of prostate cancer, more than 95 in every 100 cases. If a report says acinar adenocarcinoma it is saying the cancer is the usual kind, which is the kind every guideline, trial and survival figure for prostate cancer is about.

## Summary

Acinar adenocarcinoma arises from the small glands, the acini, that make prostatic fluid, and accounts for more than 95 percent of prostatic carcinomas (RCPath G084). Everything written about prostate cancer without a qualifier is written about it: the Gleason grading system was built on it, the Cambridge Prognostic Groups and the NCCN bands stratify it, and the treatment trials from ProtecT to PSMAddition enrolled it. Because it is the default, the word appears on a report to distinguish it from the rare alternatives rather than to say anything about how the cancer will behave, which is decided by the grade group, the PSA and the stage.

The fifth edition of the WHO Classification of Tumours lists unusual morphologies of acinar adenocarcinoma as subtypes or as alternative histological patterns: PIN-like carcinoma, moved in this edition from being a pattern of ductal carcinoma to a subtype of acinar adenocarcinoma and graded Gleason 6 only; and atrophic, pseudohyperplastic, microcystic, foamy-gland, mucinous and signet-ring-like patterns, described so that pathologists recognise them rather than because they change management. None of these is a separate disease, and none has its own page here. The types that are separate in the fifth edition are ductal adenocarcinoma, treatment-related neuroendocrine prostatic carcinoma, adenoid cystic (basal cell) carcinoma, and squamous and adenosquamous carcinoma.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-25
- Also known as: Prostatic acinar adenocarcinoma; Acinar adenocarcinoma; Conventional prostate adenocarcinoma; Usual-type prostatic adenocarcinoma; Adenocarcinoma of the prostate; Acinar

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostate_cancer
- Royal College of Pathologists G084: dataset for histopathology reports for prostatic carcinoma, version 4, October 2024: https://www.rcpath.org/static/8cc88604-2c8d-4df4-a99542df41c102af/G084-dataset-for-histopathology-reports-for-prostatic-carcinoma.pdf
- Kench et al., Histopathology 2022: WHO Classification of Tumours fifth edition, evolving issues in the classification, diagnosis and prognostication of prostate cancer: https://doi.org/10.1111/his.14711
- WHO Classification of Tumours, 5th edition: tumours of the prostate (IARC, 2022): https://tumourclassification.iarc.who.int/chapters/36

## Connected records

- terms: [Gleason score / Grade Group](https://onco.cc/terms/gleason-grade-group/), [Histology](https://onco.cc/terms/histology/), [Intraductal carcinoma of the prostate (IDC-P)](https://onco.cc/terms/intraductal-carcinoma-prostate/), [Neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/terms/neuroendocrine-differentiation/), [Tumour differentiation (well / moderately / poorly differentiated)](https://onco.cc/terms/tumour-differentiation/)
- cancers: [Ductal adenocarcinoma of the prostate](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate-ductal-adenocarcinoma/), [Neuroendocrine and small-cell prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate-nepc/), [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/)
- fronts: [Diagnostics & Biomarkers](https://onco.cc/fronts/diagnostics/)

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