Publication Database

Mitotic activity:
a systematic literature review of the assessment methodology and prognostic value in canine tumors (2024)

Art

Zeitschriftenartikel / wissenschaftlicher Beitrag

Autoren

Bertram, Christof A.

Donovan, Taryn A.

Bartel, Alexander (WE 16)

Quelle

Veterinary pathology : an internat. journal of natural and experimental disease in animals

Bandzählung: 61

Heftzählung: 5

Seiten: 752 – 764

ISSN: 0300-9858

Sprache

Englisch

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03009858241239565

DOI: 10.1177/03009858241239565

Pubmed: 38533804

Kontakt

Institut für Veterinär-Epidemiologie und Biometrie

Königsweg 67
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 56034
epi@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

One of the most relevant prognostic indices for tumors is cellular proliferation, which is most commonly measured by the mitotic activity in routine tumor sections. The goal of this systematic review was to analyze the methods and prognostic relevance of histologically measuring mitotic activity that have been reported for canine tumors in the literature. A total of 137 articles that correlated the mitotic activity in canine tumors with patient outcome were identified through a systematic (PubMed and Scopus) and nonsystematic (Google Scholar) literature search and eligibility screening process. Mitotic activity methods encompassed the mitotic count (MC, number of mitotic figures per tumor area) in 126 studies, presumably the MC (method not specified) in 6 studies, and the mitotic index (MI, number of mitotic figures per number of tumor cells) in 5 studies. A particularly high risk of bias was identified based on the available details of the MC methods and statistical analyses, which often did not quantify the prognostic discriminative ability of the MC and only reported P values. A significant association of the MC with survival was found in 72 of 109 (66%) studies. However, survival was evaluated by at least 3 studies in only 7 tumor types/groups, of which a prognostic relevance is apparent for mast cell tumors of the skin, cutaneous melanoma, and soft tissue tumor of the skin and subcutis. None of the studies using the MI found a prognostic relevance. This review highlights the need for more studies with standardized methods and appropriate analysis of the discriminative ability to prove the prognostic value of the MC and MI in various tumor types. Future studies are needed to evaluate the influence of the performance of individual pathologists on the appropriateness of prognostic thresholds and investigate methods to improve interobserver reproducibility.