title: Computer-assisted chromatin texture characterization of Feulgen-stained nuclei in a series of 331 transitional bladder cell carcinomas.
abstract: The chromatin patterns of Feulgen-stained nuclei in a series of six specimens of normal mucosa and 331 transitional bladder carcinomas, including 293 superficial (Ta and T1) and 38 invasive (T2-T4) cases, were quantitatively described by means of eight parameters relating to densitometric, run-length distribution, and co-occurrence matrix features. The results show that the chromatin texture of the superficial lesions was markedly different from that of the invasive tumours, which exhibited a distinctly more dense and heterogeneous chromatin pattern. The data also show that the increasing level of malignancy, as revealed by the increasing clinical stage, was accompanied by an increase in the overall chromatin condensation level. Only some areas of the nucleus actually increased in density; other pale areas appeared concomitantly with these increasingly denser chromatin areas. This chromatin density increase corresponded to a marked increase in the frequency of small dense chromatin clumps; these joined together into very large dense chromatin clumps, which were distributed more and more heterogeneously in the nucleus as the clinical stage of the tumour increased.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Institute J. Bordet, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van Velthoven
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petein
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zlotta
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Oosterlinck
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van der Meijden
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zandona
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Roels
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pasteels
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schulman
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kiss
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology; D002843:Chromatin / Q000473:pathology*; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012394:Rosaniline Dyes; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D001743:Urinary Bladder / Q000648:ultrastructure; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D004396:Coloring Agents; C007722:Feulgen stain; D012394:Rosaniline Dyes