Significance Of EGFR Expressionand Furhman Grade In Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinomas By Digital Pathological Software

Objective:To evaluate the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and the clinicopathologic features in clear cell type renal cell carcinoma(RCC) by digital pathological software. Methods:Immunohistochemistry was applied to examine the expression of EGFR in the RCC cases with same clinical stages. All the data digitalized by virtual slides andDefiniens Tissue StudioTMsoftware was used to evaluate the data. Result:In all39RCC,27(69.23%) were EGFR expression positive on the cytomembrane. Among the positive cases, nine cases scored1(+),seven cases scored2(++), eleven cases scored3(+++). By the Definiens Tissue StudioTMoftware, there were seventeen casesFurhman grade1, fourteen cases Furhman grade2, six cases Furhman grade3, two cases Furhman grade4. In all39cases,25were male and14were female, the ratio was1.78:1. The range of age were from35to81years old, with a mean age of56.9years. The follow-up ranged from35to132months, with the mean of115.35months. For all cases, overall survival was94.8%(37/39) for5years, and84.6%(33/39) for10years. Conclusions:The clear cell type renal carcinoma (RCC) had good prognosis whenrecected during early clinical stages. Using digital software is a effective way to analysis the EGFR expression and the size of nucleus. The higher Furhmanclassification and tumor size may have correlation with the poor prognosis. In this study the expression of EGFR had no clear correlation with the Furhman classification and the prognosis.