Karyometry, with stereological estimations, of human gastric dysplasia
Abstract
Sections from human diagnostic biopsies of the gastric antrum have been studied with an image analyser. A stereological model for parallel prolate spheroids is applied to the measured data (nuclear profile major and minor axes), yielding mean nuclear parameters. It is possible, with high statistical significancies, to separate the normal and the inflammatory cases from all the dysplasias: all the stereologically estimated nuclear dimensions are larger in the latter, accompanied by a decrease in eccentricity. Dysplasia III can be separated from I and II. Nuclear profile area plots also allow a good classification; an additional peak (large nuclei) appears in dysplasia I, and decreases in II and III. This pattern resembles those observed in other putative pre-cancerous lesions.