QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS OF THE NUCLEAR-AREA VARIATION IN BENIGN AND MALIGNANT BREAST CYTOLOGY SPECIMENS

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 3  (2) , 128-134
Abstract
The diagnostic value of the nuclear size for discriminating between benign and malignant breast lesions was studied by karyometric analysis of the nuclear area in May-Grunwald-Giemsa-stained imprints from 173 benign and 103 malignant breast lesions. The mean nuclear area, the maximum nuclear area and the percentage of nuclei > 200 .mu.m2 discriminated between .apprx. 60% of the breast carcinomas and 95% of the benign lesions. The coefficient of variation had considerably less discriminatory power and also showed the lowest correlation with the mean nuclear area. A weak negative correlation was found between the mean nuclear area and the age of the patients with benign lesions. Carcinomas with small nuclei (area < 100 .mu.m2) were found more frequently in patients with negative lymph nodes than in patients with positive nodes. Additional parameters for nuclear shape and texture may lead to a further objectification of nuclear pleomorphism in breast cytology specimens.