Mitotic activity in uterine leiomyoma / Монголын Анагаах Ухаан

INTRODUCTION:Uterine leiomyomas are the common smooth muscle tumors of female genital tract. Usually theirdiagnosis poses no problem. On the other hand leiomyosarcomas are highly malignant tumors.Distinction between the two poses no problem if the leiomyosarcoma shows significant dysplasia,however at times it may become a serious problem to differentiate between leiomyoma and well–differentiated leiomyosarcoma. Under such circumstances the mitotic count per 100 high powerfields considered by many as the most important criterion of distinction.MATERIAL AND METHODS:To investigate the role of mitotic activity in the growth of uterine leiomyomas, the mitotic count per100 high-power fields and the relation of this to the patient’s age (30 to 54 years) were examined intissue sections of leiomyomas from 130 surgically removed leiomyomatous uteri.RESULTS:The mean mitotic count in submucosal uterine leiomyoma was significantly higher (42.3%) than thatof the other location such as intermural and subserosal leiomyoma. We found the highest mitoticcount in a leiomyoma at the late reproductive aged women (46.1%) at early secretory phase. But therewas not a statistical correlation between women’s age and mitotic activity of uterine leiomyoma.CONCLUSION:Increased mitotic activity in leiomyomas under the late reproductive aged women suggests that thegrowth of these tumors is affected by progesterone level

Uterine Leiomyosarcoma : 14-year Two-center Experience of 31 Cases / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics of uterine leiomyosarcoma (LMS) and possible prognostic factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 31 patients with histologically proven LMS at Samsung Medical Center and Ajou University Hospital between 1994 and 2007. The medical records and available histological slides were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: The median age was 46 years (range, 32~63). The most common symptom was vaginal bleeding (11 patients, 35.5%). There were 23 patients with stage I, one patient with stage III, seven patients with stage IV disease. The median follow up time was 29 months (range, 1~94). The most common recurrence site was lung (5 case), followed by pelvis and upper abdomen (2 case). Nine patients died of disease with a 5-year overall survival rate of 63%. Early tumor stage and mitotic count were the prognostic factor in univariate analysis (p10HPF) had a trend for disease recurrence in early stage LMS (p=0.0859). CONCLUSION: Mitotic count less than 15/HPF in early stage may be related with longer progression-free interval, but we could not reach the conclusion that adjuvant therapy in early stage LMS be effective.

Analysis of Prognostic Factors in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors

PURPOSE: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and are immunohistochemically defined as c-KIT (CD117) positive tumors. This study investigated the behaviors of GISTs of the gastrointestinal tract and determined the prognostic factors associated with GISTs. METHOD: The clinical records of 22 patients, who were diagnosed and underwent surgery for a GIST of the GI tract at Inje university Sanggye Paik hospital from 1998 to 2004, were retrospectively analyzed. The relationship between the disease-free survival rate of the GISTs and several factors including age, gender, mitotic count, tumor site, tumor size, tumor necrosis & hemorrhage, and Ki-67 index was examined. RESULTS: The study group comprised of 13 men and 9 women. The mean age was 57.1 years (31~77 years) at the time of diagnosis. The median follow-up period was 24 months (3~45 months). A complete resection of the tumor was performed in 19 patients. There were lymph node metastases in 1 case. Five out of the 19 patients who had undergone a complete tumor resection showed recurrence (27%). The sites of recurrence were the back (1), liver (1), and abdominal cavity (3). Univariate analysis revealed, the following to be prognostic factors for the disease-free survival of patients with GISTs: high power field mitotic counts of the tumor ( or =5/50; P=0.013), the tumor size ( or =5 cm; P=0.047) and the Ki-67 index ( or =5%; P=0.001). CONCLUSION: The prognostic factors for disease-free survival rate of GISTs were high power field mitotic counts of the tumor, the tumor size and the Ki-67 index. It is recommended that more careful and frequent postoperative follow-up examinations be performed for patients showing the poor prognostic factors.

Proliferative Activity of Thyroid Lesions Evaluated by Mitotic Count and Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA)

To evaluate the clinical and histopathological significance of the proliferative activity in neoplastic and non-neoplastic thyroid lesions, we analyzed the mitotic count and the proliferating cell nuclear antigen labeling index (PCNA-LI) by immunohistochemistry as the proliferation- related markers. In this study included were surgically removed normal thyroid tissue (27 cases), adenomatous goiter (15 cases), Hashimoto's thyroiditis (5 cases), follicular adenoma (13 cases), follicular carcinoma (7 cases), papillary carcinoma (44 cases), poorly differentiated carcinoma (2 cases) and undifferentiated carcinoma (3 cases). The median PCNA-LI was 0 in normal thyroid tissue, 0.5 in adenomatous goiter, 6.2 in Hashimoto's thyroiditis, 1.2 in follicular adenoma, 4.8 in follicular carcinoma, 8.5 in papillary carcinoma, 60.8 in poorly differentiated carcinoma, and 55.2 in undifferentiated carcinoma (p=0.0001). Although PCNA-LI was exceptionally high in Hashimoto's thyroiditis, it was suggested that PCNA-LI could be used as a marker differentiating benign lesions from malignant neoplasm. Also, it could differentiate follicular adenoma from follicular carcinoma. Except clinical stage (p=0.0397), PCNA-LI was not related with sex, size, histologic subtype, and lymph node metastasis in papillary carcinoma. The presence of mitosis differentiated the neoplastic thyroid lesions from the non-neoplastic lesions (p<0.05), however, it could not divide benign and malignant neoplasm. These results suggest that an evaluation of the proliferative activity can help to differentiate the thyroid lesions. In addition, there was no significant correlation between the value of PCNA-LI and the presence of mitosis. It can be recommended to evaluate both the mitotic count and the PCNA-LI for determining the proliferative activity of the thyroid lesions.