Lack of Correlations among Histopathological Parameters, Ki-67 Proliferation Index and Prognosis in Pheochromocytoma Patients

Background: In this study prognostic correlations of histopathologic parameters and the Ki-67 proliferationindex and as well as the diagnostic value of immunohistochemical markers in pheochromocytomas were evaluated.Materials and
Methods: A total of 22 patients diagnosed with a pheochromocytoma between 2000-2010 in IzmirKatip Celebi University Ataturk Training and Research Hospital were included. Diagnostic value of the PASSscoring system, and prognostic correlations of histopathologic parameters and Ki-67 proliferation index wereinvestigated. SPSS for Windows 17.0 software was used for statistical analysis.
Results: There was no statisticallysignificant correlation between recurrence and clinicopathologic parameters or the PASS score (PASS>4). Inaddition, there were no statistically significant correlations between PASS score and clinicopathologic parameters,such as diameter (5 cm), weight (>100g), gender (female/male ratio) and age (25-45/45-55/>55). Besides, therewere no significant correlation between diameter and clinicopathological parameters and also recurrence.However, there was a statistically significant correlation between Ki-67 proliferation index and capsule invasion(p=0.047).
Conclusions: Some but not most of the findings in our study were concordant with the literature. Toclarify relationships, investigations with standard scoring systems which are not affected by subjective factorsand feature appropriate histopathological criteria should be made on larger study groups.