Proliferative cell index in endometrial adenocarcinoma of different nuclear grades

Proliferative cell indices (PCI) in 20 cases of endometrial adenocarcinoma were obtained by staining DNA polymerase alpha. The PCI ranged from 11.1 to 42.1, averaging 24.7 +/- 8.7. Four cases of stage III all exhibited fairly large PCI (30.4-32.9). In contrast, in 16 cases of stage I the values were spread over a wide range. In 13 cases with histological grade (HG) 1 of stage I, larger PCI were obtained in the nuclear grade (NG) 2 group; the mean PCI values of HG 1-NG 1 and HG 1-NG 2 were 16.5 +/- 4.6 and 25.6 +/- 5.2, respectively. Because of the good correlation between PCI and HG or NG, PCI may be useful as an additional prognostic factor in endometrial adenocarcinoma, especially in stage I cases.