Quantitative analysis of nuclear volume and size variability of breast samples

Attached document(s)

Annexes

• AS_15_n2_111_ART.pdf (2.5M)

Abstract

Two stereological methods recently developed for the estimation of the mean volume of particles are applied to normal breast samples and to invasive ductal breast carcinomas with the aim to evaluate the efficiency of these unbiased estimates and to obtain a real size variability of the nuclei. Both volume-weighted and number-weighted mean nuclear estimates demonstrate a high capacity for differentiating between normal and pathological lesions. A good correlation between different estimates of the mean nuclear volume is found. The information concerning nuclear size variability reveals a significant increase from normal to invasive ductal breast samples when the coefficient of variation of nuclear volume CVN(v) was derived from independent estimates of number-weighted ('selector' method) and volume-weighted (‘point- sampled intercepts‘ method) mean nuclear volume. The study shows that efficiency of the volume-weighted mean nuclear volume estimates was higher than that of the number-weighted ones.

To cite this article

About: Emilio Artacho-Pérula

About: Rafael Roldán-Villalobos