[Prognostic significance of cellular DNA content and AgNOR count in ovarian cystadenoma].

Background & Objective: It has been showed that cellular DNA content and silver-staining nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) count were significantly associated with the prognosis of some tumors; however, it is not yet clear whether these two parameters be helpful in predicting the prognosis of ovarian cystadenoma. This study was designed to evaluate the prognostic significance of these two parameters in ovarian cystadenoma.

Methods: Cellular DNA content and AgNOR count of the tumor cells for the samples from 42 patients with ovarian cystadenoma were measured by using computerized image analysis. The relationship between clinical as well as histomorphologic factors and the overall survival was evaluated by multivariable analysis.

Results: Univariate analysis showed that AgNOR count, DNA index, FIGO stage, degree of differentiation, presence of distant metastasis, residual tumor, lymph node metastasis, and age were the clinical variates with significant difference (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that DNA index > 1.4, FIGO stage, degree of differentiation, and residual tumor were prognostic predictors of ovarian cystadenoma.

Conclusion: The DNA index may be a useful independent factor for predicting the diagnosis of ovarian cystadenoma.