title: Comparison of morphologic criteria for actinic keratosis and squamous cell carcinoma using in vivo multiphoton tomography.
abstract: The routine diagnostic procedure of actinic keratosis (AK) and invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a histological examination after taking a biopsy. In the past decades, non-invasive optical methods for skin examination have been developed. Patients with clinical diagnosis of AK or SCC were examined. The morphological criteria were determined for healthy, AK and SCC skin and compared for statistically significant differences. In this study, the applicability of multiphoton tomography (MPT) as an in vivo diagnostic tool for AK and SCC was evaluated. Changes in the morphology of the keratinocytes such as broadened epidermis, large intercellular spaces, enlarged nucleus and a large variance in cell shape could easily be recognized. The cell nuclei of AK and SCC were significantly larger compared to healthy skin cells in all cell layers. The nucleus-cytoplasm ratio was also significantly higher for AK and SCC than for the healthy skin cells. It was even higher in SCC compared to spinous and basal cell layer of AK. The cell density in AK and SCC was significantly lower than in the basal and spinous cell layers of healthy skin. In SCC, the cell density was significantly lower than in AK. Concerning the intercellular spaces, significant differences were found for AK and healthy skin in spinous and basal cell layer and for SCC compared to AK and healthy skin. In this study, MPT proved to be a valuable non-invasive imaging method for in vivo detection and discrimination of AK and SCC from healthy skin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Marisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klemp
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Martina C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Meinke
authors.affiliation: JenLab GmbH, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weinigel
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Joachim
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Röwert-Huber
authors.affiliation: JenLab GmbH, Jena, Germany.|Department of Biophotonics and Laser Technology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: König
authors.affiliation: Dermatologie am Regierungsviertel, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ulrich
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lademann
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Allergology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Maxim E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Darvin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D003880:Dermatology / Q000379:methods*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004817:Epidermis / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000166:cytology; D055623:Keratosis, Actinic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017785:Photons; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014054:Tomography / Q000379:methods*
keywords: cell density; epidermis; hornification; intercellular space; nucleus diameter; nucleus-cytoplasm ratio