title: Statistical methods for the practical clinical application of morphometric measurements.
abstract: Four statistical methods are presented to determine the practical clinical value of measurements made from malignant tumors and to translate these measurements into a prediction of survival for each patient: the Cox statistical model, which must be derived from a data base of cases with known outcome; the null-rank test, a modified rank-sum test that provides an overall measure of the effectiveness of the Cox model; the predicted survival curve, an estimate of survival derived for each new patient from measurements of the primary tumor; and the standard error of measurement, an empirical method for estimating the variability introduced into predicted survival by errors in measurement. The value of these statistical methods was demonstrated by application to 200 cases of human intraocular melanoma, with the two predictive morphometric measurements used being the standard deviation of nucleolar area (SDNA) and the largest tumor dimension (LTD) derived from a single histologic slide of each tumor. Sufficient references and mathematical details are provided to allow anyone with moderate skills as a computer programmer to construct or obtain all of the relevant algorithms.
mesh_terms: D001699:Biometry / Q000379:methods*; D003584:Cytological Techniques; D005134:Eye Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis