Ki67 staining index and neuroendocrine differentiation aggravate adverse prognostic parameters in prostate cancer and are characterized by negligible inter-observer variability

摘要

This study aims to clarify whether neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) and/or proliferation activity assessed by means of Ki67 staining index (Ki67SI) might aggravate other established adverse prognostic parameters commonly used for predicting outcome in surgically treated prostate cancer, and to assess inter-observer variability in assigning NED and Ki67 SI.