Published online Oct 1, 1995. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v1.i1.43
Revised: June 20, 1995
Accepted: August 20, 1995
Published online: October 1, 1995
AIM: Recently, silver-stained nucleolar organizing regions (AgNOR) analysis has been used as a criterion for tumor diagnosis and research. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of AgNOR analysis in colorectal carcinomas.
METHODS: The silver staining technique was applied to paraffin embedded tumor tissue sections from 114 patients with colorectal carcinoma. The number, morphology, size, and distribution of AgNOR were counted and analyzed.
RESULTS: (1) The number of AgNOR in patients who died within 5 year of carcinoma diagnosis (x-± s: 8.8 ± 2.3 per nucleus, n = 27) was significantly higher than that in those who survived beyond 5 year (6.3 ± 1.8, n = 30, p < 0.001). The number of large sized (> 2 μm) and small sized (< 1 μm) AgNOR was significantly higher in patients who died (x-± s: 85.9 ± 20.7, 661.7 ± 250.5 in 100 nuclei) than in those who survived (71.7 ± 27.0, 398.3 ± 225.4, p = 0.04, 0.00 respectively). The concentrated type of distribution was significantly fewer in those who died (10.2%) than those who survived (31.4%, p = 0.00), whereas the mixed type of distribution was significantly greater in those who died (25.7%) than in those who survived (7.1%, p = 0.00). And (2) The number of AgNOR was also related to other factors that affected prognosis of colorectal carcinoma, such as age, histological type, depth of invasions, and metastasis to lymph nodes.
CONCLUSION: The AgNOR analysis is a novel and useful parameter for assessing the prognosis of colorectal carcinoma.