Computerized nuclear morphometry of renal cell carcinomas.
The aim of this study was the evaluation of the usefulness of nuclear morphometry in the pathology of renal cell carcinoma by computer-aided image analysis and the statistical comparison of nuclear morphometric parameters with the histologic grade of the tumors. 44 cases of renal cell carcinoma, classified by two independent pathologists into 4 histologic grades (I-IV), were examined. The following 5 nuclear morphometric parameters were measured in a large number of randomly selected nuclei of each case: Major axis length, area, elongation, roundness and compactness. The statistical evaluation was performed using one-way analysis of variance between the four groups of the histologic grades (I-IV). Between them, there was a statistically very significant difference of the mean value of all the evaluated parameters. The values of the estimated parameters, with the exception of roundness and compactness, showed a strong tendency to increase in proportion to histologic grade. Our results suggest that image analysis is a reproducible and objective method for the grading of renal cell carcinoma, and it can be helpful in the unbiased evaluation of such tumors.
Paraskevakou
E
E
Department of Pathology, Medical School, University of Athens, Greece.
Kavantzas
N
N
Pavlopoulos
P M
PM
Delibasis
A
A
Yova
D
D
Davaris
P
P
D000328:Adult; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation