EVALUATION OF CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL PROGNOSTIC FACTORS AND FLOW CYTOMETIC ANALYSIS IN NEUROBLASTOMA

In this study, 54 cases of neuroblastoma with at least 2 years follow up diagnosed between 1977-1992 at our department were evaluated according to clinical, histopathological and flow cytometric findings in order to assess the prognostic significance of these parameters. The age range was between 22 days to 13 years, and 25.9% of the cases were under the age of one. Except sex, all the clinical parameters including age, primary tumor localization, stage were found to have prognostic significance. While histologic grade and mitosis-karyorrhexis index (MKI) had prognostic significance, the parameters such as calcification, hemorrhage, necrosis and intensity of lymphocyte infiltration had no prognostic effect. As for the diploid and aneuploid cases, there was a significant difference in prognosis between the cases with low and high proliferative activity. In multivariate Cox analysis MKI, age and stage were established as independent prognostic factors.