Tumour necrosis is a postoperative prognostic marker for pancreatic cancer patients with a high interobserver reproducibility in histological evaluation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tumour necrosis reflects the presence of hypoxia, which can be indicative of an aggressive tumour phenotype. The aim of this study was to investigate whether histological necrosis is a useful predictor of outcome in patients with pancreatic ductal carcinoma (PDC).

Methods

We reviewed histopathological findings in 348 cases of PDC in comparison with clinicopathological information. We counted small necrotic foci (micronecrosis) as necrosis, in addition to massive necrosis that had been only defined as necrosis in previous studies. The reproducibility of identifying histological parameters was tested by asking five independent observers to blindly review 51 examples of PDC.

Results

Both micronecrosis and massive necrosis corresponded to hypoxic foci expressin

SUBMITTER: Hiraoka N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2965866 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature