[Adrenocortical tumors. I. Prognostic evaluation of a series of 17 cases using the Weiss criteria].

Weiss proposed 9 histologic criteria to evaluate the malignancy of adrenal cortical tumors. Each tumor is graded from 0 to 9 according to how many of the criteria are present. Eight of the 17 neoplasms from the present study were graded from 0 to 2; none of these 8 tumors metastasized or recurred. The grade of the nine other neoplasms ranged from 3 to 8; seven lesions metastasized (grade 4 to 8), one recurred (grade 5), and the last one neither metastasized nor recurred (grade 3) although this tumor was considered malignant according to Weiss' system. Even thought the results obtained using Weiss' system are similar to the results that were put forwards initially, and despite prognostic uncertainty with grade 3 tumors, we think that the later system provides a more objective evaluation of the prognosis of adrenal cortical tumors, compared with usual morphologic methods.