title: Morphometric assessment of nuclei in Bowen's disease and bowenoid papulosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Occasionally, Bowen's disease and bowenoid papulosis cannot be distinguished in microscopic finding. Their clinical presentations are quite different from one another. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the histological differences in Bowen's disease and bowenoid papulosis, by comparing the size and shape of nuclei, using image analysis system.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed morphometric assessment on 13 specimens of Bowen's disease and eight specimens of bowenoid papulosis using an image analysis system, and the following parameters were calculated, such as nuclear contour index (NCI), irregularities of nucleus (IN), form factor (form AR) and circulatory factor (form PE).
  
  
  RESULTS
  For NCI, there were significant differences between the Bowen's disease and bowenoid papulosis, and IN also shows significant differences between these two dis-eases, showing that Bowen's disease has more corrugated or indented nucleus contour than bowenoid papulosis. In the parameter of form PE, there were significant differences between the two diseases, indicating that Bowen's disease has more oval-shaped nuclei than bowenoid papulosis. There were no significant differences in form factor between Bowen's disease and bowenoid pupulosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Significant differences were found in the morphometric evaluation between Bowen's disease and bowenoid papulosis. The nuclei were larger, more oval and more irregular margins in Bowen's disease than bowenoid papulosis.
authors.forename: Dong-Soo
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Gina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hae-Jun
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Chil-Hwan
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Oh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001913:Bowen's Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000473:pathology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*