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Evaluation of the malignant grade of thymoma by morphometric analysis
Author(s) -
Nomori Hiroaki,
Horinouchi Hirohisa,
Kaseda Shizuka,
Ishihara Tsuneo,
Torikata Chikao
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19880301)61:5<982::aid-cncr2820610521>3.0.co;2-1
Subject(s) - medicine , thymoma , pathology
To determine the histologic grade of malignancy of thymoma, the nuclear areas of epithelial cells of 42 thymomas, 14 thymic hyperplasias, and ten normal thymuses were measured by morphometry and the results were compared with the extent of disease, association with myasthenia gravis (MG), and histologic subtypes of the thymomas. The nuclei of epithelial cells of thymomas were significantly larger than those of both of thymic hyperplasias and normal thymuses ( P < 0.01). The nuclei of epithelial cells of invasive thymomas were significantly larger than those of noninvasive ones ( P < 0.001). In the noninvasive group, the nuclei of epithelial cells of thymomas associated with MG were significantly larger than those without MG ( P < 0.02), and were similar to those of invasive thymomas. These results confirm that invasive thymomas are morphometrically malignant tumors, and suggest that noninvasive thymomas associated with MG might have malignant potential.