HISTOMETRY AND THE HOME CONCEPT - AN AID TO THE GRADING OF INTRA-CERVICAL NEOPLASIA

The view has been expressed that few quantitative methods are of value to the pathologist in purely diagnostic work. Quantitative systems ar e perceived as too large far the average reporting room, too time cons uming to learn, very expensive to buy and quick to become obsolete, Fu rther, the software supplied usually cannot provide fully automated an alysis, and user interaction is often tedious. If measurement techniqu es have little value in diagnosis they may have a role in assessing th e prognosis of tumours. High levels of inter- and intra-observer varia tion in tumour grading have been reported and quantitative methods hav e been used to reduce this and more emphasis has been placed on the me asurement of changes in tissue architecture, which may help to reduce observer variation. This paper describes such a method based on cell s ociology, which has been implemented on a quantitative microscope spec ifically designed for use in the routine diagnostic pathology environm ent. The results of a preliminary study on grading cervical intraepith elial neoplasia show a significant difference between all groups (P < 1 x 10(-5)) and a linear trend for the measurement of Area Disorder (P < 1 x 10(-5)).