OBJECTIVE: The development and progression of cervical cancer are likely to be associated with uncontrolled proliferation and recent interest has focused on immunohistochemical detection of cell proliferation. This study aimed to determine if there is a correlation between Ki-67 expression with tumor recurrence and survival rates in patients with Stage IB1or IIA cervical cancer.

METHODS: Paraffin-embedded cervical tumor tissues of patients with Stage IB1 and IIA cervical cancer treated with radical hysterectomy with or without bilateral salpingooophorectomy and lymph node dissection with corresponding adjuvant treatment, both with histologically proven tumor recurrence (CASES) and with no evidence of disease (CONTROLS) were immunohistochemically stained for expression of Ki-67. The mean percentages of cells with immunoreactivity to Ki-67 were then compared to determine if those cases that had tumor recurrence had a higher Ki-67 proliferative index.

RESULTS: Six cases with no evidence of disease were included in the study. Ki-67 proliferative index mean levels for the squamous cell carcinoma were 20% and 80% for the cases and controls, respectively. On the other hand , the mean levels of Ki-67 proliferative index for the adenocarcinoma were 73.33% and 90% for the cases and controls, respectively.

CONCLUSION: This preliminary study did not demonstrate the general statement that tumors with higher proliferative indices have more aggressive behavior than tumors with lower proliferative indices. This study also did not show any association between the Ki-67 proliferative index and disease recurrence in early satge cervical carcinoma.