Parameters of differentiation and proliferation in adult granulosa cell tumors of the ovary

We evaluated parameters of cell differentiation and proliferation to improv e prognostication of ovarian adult granulosa cell tumors. Recurrent tumors (n = 10, REC group) and nonrecurrent tumors (n = 30; NED group) were compar ed in terms of cellular atypia, nuclear area, p53 overexpression, ploidy, D NA index, mitosis count, S-phase fraction, and nucleolar organizer region n umber and area per cell. Cellular atypia was significantly more frequent in REC than NED tumors (50% versus 13%; P =.03). Mean nuclear area was signif icantly larger in the REC than in the NED group (44 mum(2) versus 36 mum(2) ; P =.006). Mitotic count was significantly higher in REC than NED tumors ( mean of 4.8 versus 1.7; P =.004). S-phase fraction and ploidy did not predi ct outcome, neither did nucleolar organizer region numbers and area per cel l, or p53 overexpression. Cellular atypia and mitotic count may help in det ermining the prognosis of adult granulosa tumors of the ovary. The histoche mical parameters evaluated did not provide additional information.