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Fractal dimension as a quantitator of the microvasculature of normal and adenomatous pituitary tissue
Author(s) -
Di Ieva Antonio,
Grizzi Fabio,
CevaGrimaldi Giorgia,
Russo Carlo,
Gaetani Paolo,
Aimar Enrico,
Levi Daniel,
Pisano Patrizia,
Tancioni Flavio,
Nicola Giancarlo,
Tschabitscher Manfred,
Dioguardi Nicola,
Baena Riccardo Rodriguez y
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of anatomy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.932
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1469-7580
pISSN - 0021-8782
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2007.00804.x
Subject(s) - fractal dimension , pituitary gland , adenoma , pathology , fractal , pathological , angiogenesis , medicine , biology , mathematics , mathematical analysis , hormone
It is well known that angiogenesis is a complex process that accompanies neoplastic growth, but pituitary tumours are less vascularized than normal pituitary glands. Several analytical methods aimed at quantifying the vascular system in two‐dimensional histological sections have been proposed, with very discordant results. In this study we investigated the non‐Euclidean geometrical complexity of the two‐dimensional microvasculature of normal pituitary glands and pituitary adenomas by quantifying the surface fractal dimension that measures its space‐filling property. We found a statistical significant difference between the mean vascular surface fractal dimension estimated in normal versus adenomatous tissues ( P = 0.01), normal versus secreting adenomatous tissues ( P = 0.0003), and normal versus non‐secreting adenomatous tissues ( P = 0.047), whereas the difference between the secreting and non‐secreting adenomatous tissues was not statistically significant. This study provides the first demonstration that fractal dimension is an objective and valid quantitator of the two‐dimensional geometrical complexity of the pituitary gland microvascular network in physiological and pathological states. Further studies are needed to compare the vascular surface fractal dimension estimates in different subtypes of pituitary tumours and correlate them with clinical parameters in order to evaluate whether the distribution pattern of vascular growth is related to a particular state of the pituitary gland.