Proliferative activity in primary ovarian carcinoid tumors

The proliferative potential of six primary ovarian carcinoids with different clinical outcome and histogenetic origin was examined immunohistochemically. The results showed that two cases with extremely high level of proliferative activity were associated with metastatic spread. In the remaining tumors, the examined factor was found to be at low level comparable with excellent prognosis of typical carcinoids in other locations. The preliminary results showed a possibility of a prognosis prediction according to typing of the ovarian carcinoids into two categories, i.e., tumors of low and intermediate malignancy. Topoisomerase II-alpha and Ki-67 are suitable markers giving valuable information about this phenomenon.