Laryngeal Carcinoma; A Histopathological Evaluation of the Grade of Malignancy

A Review of literature

Abstract

The TNM classification and histopathological diagnosis are important in making a prognosis for laryngeal carcinoma. However, there has been some difference in prognosis among cases in the same stage of the same histological diagnosis. Immunostaining of an antibody against the antigen present in the proliferating cycle of the tumor is a recently developed method for evaluating the tumor's proliferation acrivity. Evaluating the proliferation acrivity may be useful in deciding therapeutic policy, as well as in assuming prognosis, because it provides information which cannot be obtained by H and E staining. Of the proliferating cell antigens, proliferating cell nucler antigen (PCNA) is expected to be used clinically, because its antigenicity is said to be stable even after formalin fixation and paraffin embedding of the specimens. In this study, histopathological findings as a prognostic indicator for laryngeal carcinoma, and PCNA as an indicator of proliferation activity, are discussed with reference to literature.