New diagnostic use of bone marrow acid and alkaline phosphatase.

Prostatic acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase values in bone marrow were correlated with skeletal surveys and diagnoses during a six-month study. In cases of biopsy-proven adenocarcinoma of the prostate, bone marrow prostatic acid phosphatase was the most consistently abnormal value. Diagnoses other than prostatic cancer involving the bone marrow, e.g., myeloma and leukemias, were associated with elevated prostatic acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase values. In cases in which the bone marrow was not involved by metastasis, these values were normal. Bone marrow prostatic acid phosphatase assay was found to be a very good tool for detecting early osseous metastases from any site, including prostatic adenocarcinoma.