Clinicopathologic Factors and Nuclear Morphometry as Independent Prognosticators in KIT Positive Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor

Sonja E. Steigen ^1*, Bjørn Straume ¹, Dmitry Turbin ¹, Andy K.W. Chan ¹, Samuel Leung ¹, Torsten O. Nielsen ¹ and Sigurd Lindal ¹

¹ Department of Pathology (SES,SLindal) and Institute of Community Medicine (BS), University of Tromsø, Tromso, Norway, and Department of Pathology and Genetic Pathology Evaluation Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (SES,DT,AKWC,SLeung,TON)

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Sonja.steigen{at}unn.no.

Submitted on August 2, 2007
Accepted on 28 September 2007

	Abstract

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are mesenchymal neoplasms found in the gastrointestinal tract. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if morphometric measurements could complement tumor size and mitotic activity in risk-evaluation. Nuclear roundness and ellipse axis ratio were found to correlate with tumor size, mitotic activity, nuclear atypia and haemorrhage. Morphometric variables in 422 GISTs were significant for overall survival in univariate analyses, but did not retain independent significance in multivariate analyses incorporating mitotic count and tumor size. Traditional variables together with gender, location of primary tumor and nuclear atypia seem to be the best parameters for prognostic evaluation.

Key Words: gastrointestinal stromal tumor, GIST, morphometry, roundness

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