LIMITED VALUE OR ARGYOPHIL NUCLEOLAR ORGANIZER REGIONS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF ESOPHAGEAL LESIONS

Objective: To determine the usefulness of the argyophil nucleolar orga nizer scores in predicting malignant or aggressive behavior in neoplas tic and non-neoplastic lesions of the esophagus. Methods: The silver s taining technique for argyophil nucleolar organizer regions was perfor med on 66 specimens of formalin fixed paraffin wax embedded esophageal biopsies: Twenty six (26) normal biopsy specimens, 4 cases of squamou s papilloma, 10 cases of well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, 16 cases of moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma and 10 c ases of adenocarcinoma were studied. Results: The mean AgNOR scores an d range of values were as follows: Normal esophageal squamous epitheli um, mean 6.3 (range 4.8 to 7.4); squamous papilloma, mean 8.6 (range 6 .9 to 10.2) well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, mean 6.0 (ran ge 4.5 to 7.7); moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma mean 7.2 (range 5.5 to 8.7); adenocarcinoma mean 5.8 (range 4.5 to 6.5). T he results of the different diagnostic categories were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test but did not achieve statistical significance. Conclusion: The AgNOR scores of different esophageal lesions did not p redict aggressive behavior or malignancy.