Bone marrow in polycythemia vera, chronic myelocytic leukemia, and myelofibrosis has an increased vascularity.

Several studies have emphasized the significance of neoangiogenesis for tumor growth and progression, but few have focused on malignant hematological disorders. We studied vascular density and architecture in bone marrow samples of patients with chronic myeloproliferative disease (MPD). Vascular structures were immunostained (for von Willebrand factor/FVIII-RAG, CD 31/PECAM or Ulex europeus I for vessels and for vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF) in samples from patients with polycythemia vera (PV) (n = 7), chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) (n = 9), and myelofibrosis (MF) (n = 6) when diagnosed and were compared with normal bone marrow specimens (n = 9).

Aspects of percutaneous fine-needle aspiration biopsy in the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma.

Background: Morphologic verification of malignancy is usually a prerequisite before initiating nonsurgical therapy for pancreatic carcinoma. Fine-needle biopsy has been widely used, but the method has also been criticized because of inadequate sampling material and the risk of intra-abdominal seeding.

Methods: Cytologic material from 334 patients with suspected pancreatic malignancy was evaluated with regard to the sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of the technique.

Prognostic significance of Ki-67 antigen and p53 protein expression in pancreatic duct carcinoma: a study of the monoclonal antibodies MIB-1 and DO-7 in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumour material.

Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded material from 57 patients in whom curative resection of pancreatic carcinoma had been attempted was analysed by an immunohistochemical procedure to estimate proliferation and p53 protein expression. Using the monoclonal antibody (MAb) MIB-1, which recognizes a Ki-67 epitope, the proliferating cell index (PCI, percentage of immunoreactive tumour nuclei) and proliferating cell area (PCA, percentage of immunoreactive tumour nuclear area) were calculated using an interactive image analysis system and were compared with semiquantitative scoring of stainability. MAb DO-7, which recognizes both wild- and mutant-type p53 protein, was used to assess p53 expression in the same material.

Combined use of nuclear morphometry and DNA ploidy as prognostic indicators in nonresectable adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

The introduction of combined modality treatment has only marginally affected the prognosis in nonresectable pancreatic carcinoma. Evaluation of easily accessible prognostic variables could be of clinical importance when selecting patients for proper therapy. DNA ploidy and morphometric variables were chosen as prognostic markers and assessed on cytologic material obtained by fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) from 128 patients with pancreatic carcinoma.

Prognostic significance of DNA ploidy in pancreatic carcinoma.

The nuclear DNA content was assessed by image cytometry on cytologic specimens obtained with fine-needle aspiration biopsy in 96 patients with pancreatic duct carcinoma. Twenty-two of these patients had pancreaticoduodenal resection. According to DNA analysis there were 27 (28%) diploid, 17 (18%) tetraploid, and 52 (54%) aneuploid tumors.