Proliferation of hepatic metastases of colorectal carcinoma: Relationship to primary tumours and prognosis after hepatic resection

In this study, we determined the proliferation indices of liver metastatic rumours originating from colorectal carcinomas using Ki67 and argyrophil nu cleolar organizer region associated proteins (AgNOR) stain. We examined the primary and metastatic tumours in 27 patients with liver metastasis and ei ght cases with non-metastatic colorectal carcinoma as a control. The number of AgNOR dots in metastatic rumours was significantly higher than in the r espective primary tumours of the metastasis group or in non-metastatic colo rectal carcinomas. The Ki67 labelling index was similar in all groups. The Ki67 labelling index and AgNOR counts did not correlate with each other. Th ere was no significant relationship between proliferation indices and the d uration of the disease-free period following hepatic resection for metastas es or with prognosis after hepatectomy. We conclude that Ki67 and AgNOR are not useful indicators of prognosis in patients who undergo operation for l iver metastasis of colorectal carcinomas.