title: Proposal of a new grading system for malignant fibrous histiocytomas.
abstract: The proposed grading system for malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFH) comprises 3 grades of malignancy. Analogous to other grading systems, the system includes the factors of mitotic rate and necrosis. In addition to these two factors, the concept of cellularity was included. The prognostic relevance of the grading systems published by Costa, Coindre, van Unnik, Pezzi and Tsujimoto as well as the grading system proposed by the present study was tested on 161 MFH. The results showed that all grading systems tested produced clearly significant differences (p < 0.01) with regard to the survival estimated for patients with various grades of malignancy. These results revealed the superiority of systems that use 3 grades of malignancy over a 2-grade classification. The proposed grading system yielded a lower percentage of grade II tumours (37%) than the grading systems of Coindre (60%) and van Unnik (70%). In the multivariate analysis of all grading systems, the proposed grading system was the only one to show prognostic relevance (p < 0. 05).
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Reinhard Nieter Hospital, Wilhelmshaven, Academic Hospital of the University Göttingen, Friedrich Paffrath Str. 100, 26389 Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Ubrinck@aol.com
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Brinck
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cordon-Cardo
authors.forename: Jerzy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stachura
authors.forename: Pawel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bortkiewicz
authors.forename: Gösta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Korabiowska
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D051677:Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis