Proceedings of the 7th annual meeting of the Japan endocrine pathology society: features of malignant endocrine tumors that predict clinical prognosis.

摘要

A workshop entitled "Is the pathological diagnosis of malignancy of an endocrine tumor an adequate predictor of its clinical prognosis?" was held in Tokyo, October 25, 2003, as a special session at the 7th Annual Meeting of the Japan Endocrine Pathology Society. The purpose of this workshop was to try to propose new concepts and methodologies in determining the malignant potential of endocrine tumors and in predicting their clinical course. Pathological diagnosis is critical for determining appropriate treatment. Diagnosis of malignancy sometimes demands that clinicians re-operate, perform more aggressive surgery, or prescribe chemotherapy, which might provoke severe side effects. Patients should be more closely observed for a longer period because of the diagnosis of malignancy. In contrast, when there is no mention of the possibility of a malignancy in the pathologist's analysis of a truly malignant tumor, undertreatment may result.