GUTS STROMAL TUMORS PROGNOSIS - A 36-CASES STUDY

Clinical outcome of gut's stromal tumors is difficult to predict by mo rphological data. The prognostic significance of a set of morphologica l criterias and immunostaining for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was studied. Thirty six tumours were classified benign (group A ) or malignant (group B) according to ten year follow-up. Patient's se x and age, site of origin, tumour size, mitotic count and cytonuclear atypia were considered. Growth kinetic was studied by immunohistochemi cal analysis of PCNA (PC 10, Dako(R)). In univariate analysis, mitotic count, PCNA index, tumor size and cytonuclear atypia were associated with patient outcome. However, in multivariate analysis, only mitotic count and tumour size were independant prognosis factors. Thus, mitoti c count remains the best prognostic indicator for these tumours since a cut off value of 2 mitosis/high power field allows an accurate progn osis in 33/36 tumors.