Mitotic index

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. 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 with breast cancer.^[1]

Links

• http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/8/6/216
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1770351/?tool=pubmed

References

1. ^ 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.  edit