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Phyllodes tumors of the breast: Correlation of nucleolar organizer regions with histopathological malignancy grading, flow cytometric DNA analysis and clinical outcome
Author(s) -
Samaratunga Hemamali,
Clarke Belinda,
Owen Leigh,
Bryson Greg,
Swanson Cheryl
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
pathology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1827
pISSN - 1320-5463
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1827.2001.01294.x
Subject(s) - grading (engineering) , malignancy , nucleolus organizer region , pathology , flow cytometry , survival analysis , biology , medicine , chromosome , microbiology and biotechnology , ecology , biochemistry , gene
To examine whether nucleolar organizer regions detected by argyrophilia (Ag‐NOR counts) can be used as a prognostic indicator in phyllodes tumors of the breast, and to compare its usefulness with that of DNA flow cytometric analysis, 28 cases of breast phyllodes tumors (including 15 benign, two borderline and 11 malignant tumors) were subjected to Ag‐NOR staining and counting as well as DNA flow cytometric analysis. S‐phase fraction and DNA ploidy analysis showed useful trends for improving outcome predictions in malignant phyllodes tumors. However, high Ag‐NOR counts were significant in predicting survival status ( P = 0.013) and reached near statistical significance in predicting survival times ( P = 0.07). In predicting survival status, results for Ag‐NOR counts were significantly better than those for ploidy analysis ( P = 0.02) and S‐phase fraction ( P < 0.01). Only S‐phase fraction was significantly predictive of survival times ( P = 0.025). It is concluded that Ag‐NOR counts and DNA flow cytometric analysis, easily performed using paraffin sections, give information that can improve predictions made by histopathological classification. Ag‐NOR counts are significant in predicting survival in the presence of histopathological features of malignancy.