Morphometric grading of squamous cell carcinoma

Nuclear morphometry in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue

In the histological grading of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) nuclear features are very important. Nevertheless evaluation is usually performed in a subjective and not highly reproducible way. The aim of this work was to investigate the relationship between nuclear shape and survival in 30 cases of carcinoma of the tongue. All the patients were divided into two groups: short-term survival and long-term survival. Twenty nuclei for each tumour were submitted to a morphometrical study by the shape analytical morphometry (SAM) software system. It was thus possible to evaluate not only nuclear dimensions but also nuclear contour irregularities and nuclear shape asymmetries. Multivariate discriminant analysis (MDA) of the quantitative parameters obtained by the morphometrical study distinguished the patients of the two groups with only a 10% error; moreover successful cluster analysis was performed by using Fourier parameters. Both these sets of results were achieved mainly owing to the parameters for contour irregularities.

Histological grading and DNA content as predictors of distant metastases in squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix

Squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix with distant metastases can be treated by adjuvant chemotherapy. The at-risk patients are those with histologically proven metastases, the presence of tumour in paracervical tissue and parametrium, evidence of vascular invasion, a great depth of invasion, or poor tumour differentiation. Our studies lead us to believe that differentiation and DNA content are also important criteria.

Morphometric analysis, ploidy and response to chemotherapy in squamous carcinomas of the head and neck

The histopathology of 54 squamous carcinomas of the head and neck was evaluated by qualitative grading and morphometry in order to identify those features which predicted a good response to cisplatinum chemotherapy. The histopathology of 66 cases was correlated with tumour ploidy, determined by flow cytometry of paraffin-embedded material, since a separate study has shown that aneuploid carcinomas respond better to chemotherapy. The degree of differentiation was a poor predictor of ploidy, although diploid carcinomas did show more keratin and less nuclear pleomorphism than aneuploid carcinomas. The prominence of nucleoli in tumour cells and the surface area to volume (s/v) ratio of the tumour islands were the variables most strongly correlated with ploidy, with diploid carcinomas having prominent nucleoli and a low s/v ratio. A good response to chemotherapy was related partly to the architecture of the carcinoma (pushing border and low s/v ratio), and partly to the tumour cells (well differentiated) and the percentage of necrotic tumour. A lack of inflammatory reaction or desmoplasia was associated with a poor response. The results indicate that both subjective and objective histopathological criteria may be used to predict ploidy and the response to cisplatinum chemotherapy of squamous carcinoma of the head and neck. A combination of s/v ratio and the percentage of necrotic tumour can be used to identify a group of patients with a relatively good survival.

Morphometric analysis of nuclear/cytoplasmic ratios in normal and perineoplastic vulvar skin

Analysis of vulvar skin adjacent to squamous carcinoma has demonstrated abnormal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content in histologically unremarkable specimens. Analysis of DNA by microdensitometry is time-consuming. Morphometric analysis by point counting was used to compare the nuclear/cytoplasmic ratios of normal vulvar skin and skin adjacent to malignancy. This showed elevated ratios in the latter specimens although there was no linear relationship to increasing ploidy.