title: Morphologic analysis of pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Few studies on how to diagnose pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors through morphometric analysis have been reported. In this study, we measured and analyzed the characteristic parameters of pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors using an image analyzer to aid in diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen cases of typical carcinoid tumor, 5 cases of atypical carcinoid tumor, 15 cases of small cell carcinoma, and 51 cases of large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma were analyzed. Using an image analyzer, we measured the nuclear area, perimeter, and the major and minor axes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean nuclear area was 0.318±0.101 µm(2) in typical carcinoid tumors, 0.326±0.119 µm(2) in atypical carcinoid tumors, 0.314±0.107 µm(2) in small cell carcinomas, and 0.446±0.145 µm(2) in large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas. The mean nuclear circumference was 2.268±0.600 µm in typical carcinoid tumors, 2.408±0.680 µm in atypical carcinoid tumors, 2.158±0.438 µm in small cell carcinomas, and 3.247±1.276 µm in large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas. All parameters were useful in distinguishing large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma from other tumors (p=0.001) and in particular, nuclear circumference was the most effective (p=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors showed nuclear morphology differences by subtype. Therefore, evaluation of quantitative nuclear parameters improves the accuracy and reliability of diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Gachon University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Seok
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Myunghee
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Seung Yeon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Jungsuk
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Mee Sook
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Roh
authors.forename: Chang Won
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Jungho
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
keywords: Atypical carcinoid tumor; Carcinoma, large cell; Carcinoma, neuroendocrine; Carcinoma, small cell; Pulmonary neuroendocrine tumor; Typical carcinoid tumor