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Prognostic significance of mast cells in soft tissue sarcoma
Author(s) -
Ueda Takafumi,
Aozasa Katsuyuki,
Tsujimoto Masahiko,
Yoshikawa Hidekl,
Kato Tsugio,
Ono Keiro,
Matsumoto Keishi
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19881201)62:11<2416::aid-cncr2820621128>3.0.co;2-4
Subject(s) - medicine , mast (botany) , mast cell , sarcoma , pathology , soft tissue , soft tissue sarcoma , immunology
We counted the number of toluidine blue positive mast cells within and around the tumor in 44 patients with soft tissue sarcomas (STS). Irrespective of their histologic types, these cases were broadly divided into the following two groups: (1) low count (<20 mast cells/10 high‐power fields [HPF]) and (2) high count (≥20 mast cells/10 HPF). The patients with a high mast cell count showed a significantly better 5‐year survival rate than those with a low count (85.9% versus 30.5%; P < 0.01). Five patients with distant metastases at first admission all belonged to the low count group. These results suggest that the number of mast cells within and around the tumor is a useful prognostic factor for STS.