title: Morphometric analysis in cytologic evaluation of papillary thyroid carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the morphometric features of papillary carcinomas with follicular neoplasias and benign lesions and to determine the potential role of nuclear morphometric features in their differential diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Morphometric features were investigated in the cytologic samples of 64 cases, including 27 benign lesions, 6 follicular neoplasias and 31 papillary carcinomas. We analyzed 6 morphometric parameters: nuclear area, nuclear perimeter, maximum diameter (MaxD), minimum diameter (MinD), form factor and ratio of MaxD/MinD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences between the benign lesion and follicular neoplasia groups for any nuclear parameters. However, between benign lesions and papillary carcinomas, there were significant differences for all parameters, except for form factor. Between follicular neoplasms and papillary carcinomas, only the MaxD/MinD ratio was significantly different.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study indicate that the ratio of MaxD/MinD is a distinct nuclear morphometric feature for distinguishing papillary carcinoma from other thyroid lesions, and it may be employed with other cytologic criteria in diagnosing problematic cases.
authors: Department of Pathology, Medical School, Ondokuz Mayis University, Samsun, Turkey. mehmetkefeli@gmail.com
authors: Mehmet
authors: M
authors: Kefeli
authors: Ilkser
authors: I
authors: Akpolat
authors: Arzu
authors: A
authors: Yildirim
authors: Ahmet Tevfik
authors: AT
authors: Sunter
authors: Bedri
authors: B
authors: Kandemir
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000473:pathology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006042:Goiter / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D010338:Pathology, Clinical / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*