title: Prognostic factors in human pancreatic cancer, with special reference to quantitative histology.
abstract: A retrospective clinicopathologic study was done on 111 patients with a pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The mean follow-up period was 6 years. By means of interactive morphometry six nuclear morphometric features were measured in biopsy specimens from the primary tumours. Volume-corrected mitotic index (M/V index) was estimated in the same sections. Histologic grading was done in accordance with the WHO. The M/V index (p = 0.002), the nuclear area of the 10 largest nuclei (NA10) (p = 0.025), the histologic grade (p = 0.0956), the nuclear area (NA) (p = 0.038), the standard deviation of the nuclear perimeter (SDPE) (p = 0.033), and the standard deviation of the nuclear area (SDNA) (p = 0.0430) predicted survival in univariate analysis. The type of surgery performed was a significant prognosticator too (p = 0.0131). A multifactor regression analysis of survival including clinical and histologic factors identified the M/V index as the most important prognosticator (p = 0.009), followed by the type of surgery performed (p = 0.022). Other histologic factors had no independent prognostic value. Our results suggest the use of morphometric features instead of the conventional histologic grading in predicting survival of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Surgery, University Central Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eskelinen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lipponen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marin
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haapasalo
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mäkinen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ahtola
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Puittinen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nuutinen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alhava
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002285:Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008940:Mitotic Index; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate