title: Usefulness of AgNOR counts in diagnosing epithelial dysplasia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diagnosis of epithelial dysplasia has traditionally been subjective, and there is a need for a quantifiable and useful test.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a double blind study, clinical leukoplakias from 52 people were diagnosed for presence (DLK) or absence (NDLK) of epithelial dysplasia using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain as a gold standard criterion, and results were compared against their mean silver stainable nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) counts. We used mean AgNOR count cut-point of 2.37 from our prior report as the diagnostic threshold (mean >or= 2.37 being DLK and mean < 2.37 being NDLK).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The two methods (H&E and AgNOR) disagreed in 37% of the diagnoses. Both NDLK and DLK had high AgNOR counts. P-AgNOR was non-contributory for diagnosing epithelial dysplasia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mean AgNOR count can be a useful tool in definitive diagnosis of epithelial dysplasia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Dr R Ahmed Dental College and, Hospital, Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Jay G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Ray
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chattopadhyay
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Caplan
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004396:Coloring Agents; D004801:Eosine Yellowish-(YS); D006416:Hematoxylin; D006801:Humans; D007972:Leukoplakia, Oral / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D009697:Nucleolus Organizer Region / Q000473:pathology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016622:Silver Staining; D016037:Single-Blind Method
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004396:Coloring Agents; D004801:Eosine Yellowish-(YS); D006416:Hematoxylin