Significance of AgNOR score in benign and malignant soft tissue tumours

AgNOR staining was employed on FNAC and histopathological sections obtained from patients with soft tissue tumours. The study comprised of 20 normal appearing soft tissues, 74 benign and 36 malignant soft tissue tumours. The slides were stained with AgNOR in order to differentiate between benign and malignant soft tissue tumours. The mean AgNOR count in normal appearing soft tissues, benign lesions and malignant lesions was 1.04+/-0.10 (0.94-1.14), 1.51+/-0.21 (1.1-2.1) and 4.96+/-1.33 (2.57-7.21) respectively. The mean AgNOR count was found to be higher in benign soft tissue tumours as compared to normal appearing soft tissues and the difference was found to be statistically significant. The mean AgNOR count in soft tissue sarcomas was found to be higher as compared to both normal appearing soft tissues and benign soft tissue tumours and the results were found to be statistically significant. The increased AgNOR score in both benign and malignant soft tissue tumours as compared to normal appearing soft tissues indicates high proliferative activity. Thus AgNOR staining is a simple and useful method for estimating tumour cell proliferation thereby differentiating normal appearing soft tissues from benign and malignant soft tissue tumours.