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Nuclear shape as a prognostic discriminant in colorectal carcinoma

  • Original Contributions
  • Published:
Diseases of the Colon & Rectum

Abstract

In search for a more reliable prognostic discriminant, a retrospective analysis of 100 cases of colorectal carcinoma having undergone curative resection and followed for at least 5 years were assessed by nuclear morphometry. Each case was staged according to the Dukes' classification as well as graded histologically. For all patients in this series, the perimeter, area, and nuclear shape factor of 50 interphase nuclei were determined for each carcinoma. The information was obtained through the use of an image analysis system by tracing the nuclear profiles (magnification 1000×) as digitized on a video screen. The nuclear shape factor was defined as the degree of circularity of the nucleus, a perfect circle recorded as 1.0. A nuclear shape factor greater than 0.84 was associated with poor outcome. Multiple regression models showed that the single nuclear parameter of the shape factor was the most highly significant predictor of survival (P <0.0001). This variable remained highly significant even when corrected for sex, age, histologic grade, and Dukes' classification. These findings indicate that a nuclear shape factor ≥0.84 as determined by nuclear morphometry is an independent morphometric nuclear variable of great importance in the prognosis of large bowel carcinoma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Surgery and Pathology, The Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital and McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Benjamin Mitmaker M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.S.C., Louis R. Begin M.D., F.R.C.P.C. & Philip H. Gordon M.D., F.R.C.S.C.

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  1. Benjamin Mitmaker M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.S.C.
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  2. Louis R. Begin M.D., F.R.C.P.C.
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  3. Philip H. Gordon M.D., F.R.C.S.C.
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Additional information

Read at the meeting of The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, St. Louis, Missouri, April 29 to May 4, 1990.

This paper received the Pennsylvania Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons Award for deserving Scientific or Poster Presentation.

This work was supported by a grant from the Planning and Priorities Committee, The Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital.

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Mitmaker, B., Begin, L.R. & Gordon, P.H. Nuclear shape as a prognostic discriminant in colorectal carcinoma. Dis Colon Rectum 34, 249–259 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02090165

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