Abstract
Pediatric adrenocortical tumors (ACTs) only rarely occur in children. Unfortunately their clinical behavior is often unpredictable and their diagnosis (benign versus malignant) is still challenging because the pathological criteria of malignancy used in adults (Weiss system) are not always useful in children. Among the several pathological scoring systems, that proposed by Wieneke et al. seems to be the most reliable and reproducible for prognostic purposes in daily practice. Although seemingly straightforward, the identification/definition of the key pathological features of this system is still controversial, resulting in pathological reports that are different not only among general pathologists but even among expert pediatric pathologists. A review of the literature on pediatric ACTs and our personal experience with 20 cases are provided, discussing confusing and/or challenging pathological problems, especially those with clinical impact. General guidelines, including histological illustrations, are provided in order to offer pathologists a practical approach for a correct identification of predictors of clinical outcome.
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Magro, G., Vecchio, G.M., Alaggio, R. (2013). Diagnosis and Prognosis of Pediatric Patients with Adrenocortical Tumors. In: Hayat, M. (eds) Pediatric Cancer, Volume 4. Pediatric Cancer, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6591-7_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6591-7_24
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