Morphometry in the differential diagnosis of granulosa-cell tumors of the ovary.
Although the diagnosis of granulosa-cell tumors of the ovary is usually consistent and reproducible, in some cases the differentiation from poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas can be difficult. To investigate our subjective impression of the similarity of nuclei in both types of tumors, seven granulosa-cell tumors and eight poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas were studied with morphometry, with a variety of nuclear parameters measured in 100 nuclei per case. The findings showed that, in general, granulosa-cell tumors have a slightly higher mean nuclear contour index (NCI), which is a measure of the nuclear indentation or grooving, and a somewhat lower mean nuclear area than do adenocarcinomas. There is considerable overlap, however, with the nuclear patterns of the two types of tumors forming a morphologic continuum. Multivariate analysis gave a better discrimination but did not entirely eliminate the overlap. The maximum NCI was the best single discriminator. While only one of the granulosa-cell tumors had a maximum NCI less than 5.11, none of the adenocarcinomas exceeded this value. The only granulosa-cell tumor with a maximum NCI below the threshold was in a case with a much less favorable clinical course. The results of this study indicate that objective morphometric nuclear criteria are useful in the diagnosis of granulosa-cell tumors and possibly have some prognostic value.
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006106:Granulosa Cell Tumor / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000648:ultrastructure*