Application of the AgNOR method to distinguish pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia from squamous cell carcinoma.

The AgNOR stain was performed on seventeen cases of pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia of the oral cavity and genital tract, seventeen cases of squamous cell carcinomas of the same regions, and nineteen cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix, to determine whether the stain could help to distinguish pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia from squamous cell carcinoma. No constant relationship of the AgNOR score to the grade of the lesion could be determined. Follow up of some of the cases was possible. Here, too, it was seen that the AgNOR score could not reliably predict which cases of pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia would progress to squamous cell carcinoma, and which cases of squamous cell carcinoma would suffer a relapse.