Limited prognostic value of the 2004 International Union Against Cancer staging classification for adrenocortical carcinoma

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignancy, and it was only in 2004 that the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) defined TNM criteria and published the first staging classification. However, to date, the prognostic value of the proposed classification has not been evaluated.

The German ACC Registry comprising 492 patients was searched for patients who were diagnosed between 1986 and 2007 with detailed information on primary diagnosis and a minimum follow-up of 6 months. Patients were assigned to UICC tumor stage, and disease-specific survival (DSS) was assessed. In addition, the contribution of potential risk factors for DSS was evaluated.