Publication:

Clinicohistopathological study of astrocytomas along with Ki-67 proliferative index

Background Astrocytomas form the largest group of gliomas (>75%) and diffusely infiltrating    accounting for more than 60% of all the primary brain tumors. The ki67 proliferative index is a potent biologic marker that estimates the growth of neoplasms quantitatively and thus will aid in identifying the prognosis for patients with neoplasms.  The aim of the research work was to study various histopathological and clinical features of Astrocytomas in detail, to evaluate Ki-67 proliferative index in patients of Astrocytomas and to compare the results of Immunohistochemistry with histological grade of Astrocytomas.

Methods A   total   number   of    40 cases of   Astrocytomas were included in the study.  Ki-67 immunostaining was done on all cases and compared with WHO histological grading of astrocytomas.

Results The mean Ki‑67 LI in Grade I astrocytomas was 4.66, range 4-5 ,  in Grade II astrocytomas mean was 8.07, range 5-12 ,in Grade III astrocytomas mean was 13.5 , range 8-20,  in Grade IV astrocytomas mean was 22.93, range 15-50. There was a highly significant correlation between the histopathological grade of astrocytomas and Ki-67 LI (p<0.05).

Conclusions The monoclonal antibody Ki-67 has proven its prognostic and diagnostic power in astrocytic tumors. Ki-67 LI is the simplest and the most reliable method for evaluating cell proliferation. Ki-67 LI increased with histological grade and the difference between low grade (I and II astrocytomas) and high grade (grade III and IV) is significant. In the present study Ki-67 LI is not dependent on factors like age and sex and is solely dependent on histological grade.