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High resolution image cytometry for quantitative assessment of ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast
Author(s) -
Palcic Branko,
Garner David,
Susnik Barbara
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of cellular biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 165
eISSN - 1097-4644
pISSN - 0730-2312
DOI - 10.1002/jcb.240531156
Subject(s) - comedo , ductal carcinoma , in situ , breast cancer , lesion , pathology , mammography , medicine , cancer , biology , chemistry , organic chemistry
One of the most critical issues regarding management of early breast cancer is the proper detection and correct estimation of its malignant potential. In recent years, primarily through mammography, the frequency of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in malignant breast biopsies has increased several fold, from ∼5% to over 20%. At present, DCIS classification is based exclusively on descriptive parameters and several attempts have been made to obtain uniform classification among pathologists. This goal has been elusive and further attempts both in North America and Europe have been made to better distinguish between DCIS lesions. However, even if this can be achieved to a satisfactory degree, the malignant potential of a DCIS lesion, either comedo or non‐comedo, cannot be assessed without quantitative evaluation of these lesions. It may be possible to assess the malignant potential by estimating a variety of parameters, such as the presence of oncogenes or their products, presence of receptors, etc . To date, some of these have been shown either to be necessary or sufficient conditions for obtaining invasive cancer. We have recently shown that the nuclear features of diagnostic cells, as well as nuclear features of the surrounding normal appearing cells, can be used for objective lesion classification and estimation of the malignant potential of DCIS lesions. A high resolution image cytometer (Cyto‐Savant TM , Xillix Technologies Corp.) has been developed. This device can be used for automated measurements of large numbers of cell nuclei stained stoichiometrically for DNA. Nuclear features such as size, shape, DNA amount, and foremost, the texture features describing the distribution of the DNA are extracted. The Cyto‐Savant TM system has been trained to recognize the relevant cells in smears from fine needle aspirates or cytospins of cells extracted from tissue blocks using standard procedures. Several thousand cell nuclei per slide can be analyzed using only a few minutes of the pathologist's time. Combining qualitative assessment with quantitative data greatly improves the diagnosis of DCIS lesions and may provide prognostic and treatment monitoring information as well. The system will be discussed in detail and experimental data shown for several cases.