Mitotic index
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Mitotic index is a measure for the proliferation status of a cell population. It is defined as the ratio between the number of cells in mitosis and the total number of cells.
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[edit] Purpose
The mitotic index is an important prognostic factor predicting both overall survival and response to chemotherapy in most types of cancer. It may lose much of its predictive value for elderly populations, for example a low mitotic index loses any prognostic value for women over 70 years old with breast cancer.[1]
[edit] Calculation
Mitotic index can be calculated using the following operation : cells observed with visible chromosomes ÷ total number of cells visible.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Baak, J. P. A.; Gudlaugsson, E.; Skaland, I.; Guo, L. H. R.; Klos, J.; Lende, T. H.; Søiland, H. V.; Janssen, E. A. M. et al (2008). "Proliferation is the strongest prognosticator in node-negative breast cancer: Significance, error sources, alternatives and comparison with molecular prognostic markers". Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 115 (2): 241–254. doi:10.1007/s10549-008-0126-y. PMID 18665447.
- ^ Edexcel practical materials created by Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology, copyright Unversity of York Science Education Group
[edit] Links
- "Measuring proliferation in breast cancer". breast-cancer-research.com. http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/8/6/216.
- "Prognostic value of proliferation in invasive breast cancer". ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1770351/?tool=pubmed.
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