Morphometric analysis of AgNORs in uveal malignant melanoma.

OBJECTIVE

To define the value of silver-stained nucleolar organizer regions (AgNOR) in the evaluation of uveal malignant melanomas (MM).

STUDY DESIGN

Morphometric analysis of AgNORs was performed on 30 uveal MM of spindle A, B, epithelioid and mixed cell types. Findings were compared with cytotype, largest tumor dimension (LTD) and clinical outcome.

RESULTS

AgNOR mean perimeter (MP) was 3.76 microns (SD 1.21, range 1.79-8.51 microns) in A, 5.05 microns (SD 1.96, range 1.79-16.41 microns) in B and 6.15 microns (SD 3.86, range 1.79-33.80 microns) in epithelioid MM; mean area (MA) was 0.86 micron 2 (SD 0.60, range 0.20-2.78 microns 2) in A, 1.58 microns 2 (SD 1.11, range 0.20-9.63 microns 2) in B and 2.34 microns 2 (SD 2.10, range 0.20-15.27 microns 2) in epithelioid MM; the aspect ratio (AR) was 3.10 (SD 0.19, range 2.90-3.35) in A, 5.80 (SD 2.07, range 3.77-9.32) in B and 12.22 (SD 2.84, range 8.11-15.81) in epithelioid MM. From comparing MA and RA with follow-up, it seemed that MM with a good prognosis (spindle A and a subgroup of B tumors, B1) exhibited the lowest MA and AR values, while MM with poorer clinical behavior (epithelioid and a second subgroup of spindle B MM, B2) showed the highest. No correlation was found between AgNORs and LTD.

CONCLUSION

AgNORs may contribute to the prognostic evaluation of uveal MM.