title: Prognostic significance of mean nuclear volume in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the correlation of stereologically estimated mean nuclear volume of tumor cells with other clinicopathologic prognostic features and survival in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 27 patients with primary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. A stereologic method proposed by Gundersen et al was used for the estimation of mean nuclear volume in hematoxylin and eosin-stained histologic sections of each case. Mean nuclear volume values were compared statistically with histopathologic prognostic feature groups and survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean nuclear volume values of tumor cells ranged from 296.83 to 982.79 microns 3 (mean, 633.906 +/- 212.310). Higher values of mean nuclear volume were significantly related to advanced tumor stage and the presence of distant metastasis (Kruskal-Wallis, P = .036; Mann-Whitney U, P = .020). In contrast, nodal stage, tumor grade, perineural invasion, lymphatic and blood vessel invasion, and size of tumor showed no statistical relation to mean nuclear volume of tumor cells. Mean nuclear volume was found to be a significant predictor of survival in univariate analysis (P = .016).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Estimation of mean nuclear volume may help in predicting the extent of disease and clinical behavior in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Dokuz Eylül University, School of Medicine, Inciralti, 35340, Izmir, Turkey. sermin.ozkal@deu.edu.tr
authors.forename: Sermin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozkal
authors.forename: Ozgül
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sagol
authors.forename: Sedat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karademir
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coker
authors.forename: Hüseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Astarcioglu
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Küpelioglu
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Astarcioglu
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Topalak
authors.forename: Yigit
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Göktay
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies