Lee SS, Kang M, Ha SY, An J, Roh MS, Ha CW, Han J. Morphologic analysis of pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors.
KOREAN JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY 2013;
47:16-20. [PMID:
23483025 PMCID:
PMC3589604 DOI:
10.4132/koreanjpathol.2013.47.1.16]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2012] [Revised: 12/10/2012] [Accepted: 12/11/2012] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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 µm2 in typical carcinoid tumors, 0.326±0.119 µm2 in atypical carcinoid tumors, 0.314±0.107 µm2 in small cell carcinomas, and 0.446±0.145 µm2 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.
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