Stereological estimates of nuclear volume in normal germ cells and carcinoma in situ of the human testis.
Carcinoma in situ of the testis may appear many years prior to the development of an invasive tumour. Using point-sampled intercepts, base-line data concerning unbiased stereological estimates of the volume-weighted mean nuclear volume (nuclear vV) were obtained in 50 retrospective serial testicular biopsies from 10 patients with carcinoma in situ. All but two patients eventually developed an invasive growth. Testicular biopsies from 10 normal adult individuals and five prepubertal boys were included as controls. Nuclear vV in testicular carcinoma in situ was significantly larger than that of morphologically normal spermatogonia (2P = 1.0 x 10(-19)), with only minor overlap. Normal spermatogonia from controls had, on average, smaller nuclear vV than morphologically normal spermatogonia in biopsies with ipsi- or contra-lateral carcinoma in situ (2P = 5.2 x 10(-3)). No difference in nuclear vV was found in carcinoma in situ with or without co-existing invasion, and no characteristic pattern of nuclear vV was disclosed by following the lesion in serial biopsies over time from individual patients. Estimation of nuclear vV may represent an adjuvant tool in morphologically puzzling cases of testicular carcinoma in situ, but the prognostic value requires further evaluation in larger series of patients.
Sørensen
F B
FB
Stereological Research Laboratory, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Müller
J
J
D000328:Adult; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*