Cell kinetic analyses of human malignant brain tumors (gliomas).
Administration of 3H-thymidine, either with or without mitostatic agents, to 24 patients with various gliomas revealed 1) in viable areas a labeling index (LI) for glioblastomas equal to 5-15%, 2) an LI of 1% or less in well-differentiated gliomas, and 3) the LI of anaplastic astrocytomas was intermediate and reflected the extent of anaplasia. Growth fraction was 0.14-0.44 in malignant gliomas (average 0.31 +/- 0.10), and cell cycle time obtained by means of stathmokinetic analysis was 75.6 +/- 45.7 hr. With few exceptions, the patients whose tumors showed an LI of 5% or more died within 1 year after the onset of disease, and no patients whose tumors at biopsy had an LI of over 5% survived more than 6 months. In contrast, there was a far better prognosis for patients whose tumors demonstrated an LI of less than 1%.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000473:pathology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002455:Cell Division; D005260:Female; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000473:pathology*; D005910:Glioma / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis