THE PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF MORPHOMETRY IN OVARIAN EPITHELIAL TUMORS OF BORDERLINE MALIGNANCY

A fully "blind" morphometric analysis was made of 20 ovarian epithelial tumors; 18 of these were of borderline malignancy, one was a well-differentiated adenocarcinoma and one had been categorized as "borderline? malignant?" Morphometry correctly identified the adenocarcinoma, which had proved fatal, and the two tumors of borderline malignancy that had directly led to the patients'' deaths, as having a "poor" prognosis. One tumor thought to have a "poor" prognosis was associated with long-term survival, but the patient had received chemotherapy. All the patients whose tumors were morphometrically graded as having a "good" prognosis were alive and tumor-free at intervals ranging from 4 to 14 years. It is concluded that the predictive prognostic power of morphometry, when applied to ovarian epithelial tumors of borderline malignancy, is greater than that of unaided light microscopy.