ASTROCYTOMAS AND PROGNOSIS-FROM MORPHOLOGY TO TUMOR BIOLOGY.

Twenty-seven cases of Astrocytoma were studied to assess the role of a newly introduced proliferation marker-Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) in improving prognostic accuracy in comparison to traditional histologic methods like grading. The study revealed a direct correlation between grading and PCNA expression as determined by labelling indices (LI). A 25% PCNA LI separated low and high grade tumors. The difference between PCNA LI's of patients who were alive and those who were dead at the end of the study was statistically significant. However, in this study with limited follow-up, statistically significant relation to survival and recurrence could not be established. The study introduces a new method of assessing tumor biology that enables objectivity in prediction of tumor behaviour.