A Study of AgNORs(Argyrophilic Nucleolar Organizer Regions) on Prediction of the Prognosis in Intracranial Meningiomas

ABSTRACT

A silver staining technique was used in the study of nucleolar organizer regions(AgNORs) from the paraffin sections of 26 meningiomas. The specimens were divided into four groups as followsbenign(n=16), atypical(n=5), anaplastic or malignant(n=5) and recurrent without atypical histological findings(n=2) groups, and the mean number of AgNORs in each group was 1.47+/-0.27, 1.93+/-0.4, 2.00+/-0.27 and 1.49+/-0.53 respectively. We noted that the mean number of AgNORs reflected the cellular kinetics of a tumor and was related to histological grade. There was no significant difference between non-recurrent & recurrent benign meningiomas and it was thought that the main cause of recurrence in benign meningiomas was not perhaps cell proliferation but incomplete surgical removal.