MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF AGNORS IN IMPRINTS AND SECTIONS FROM NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMAS - AN APPROACH TO STANDARDIZATION

The argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) technique was appl ied to tissue sections and touch imprints from 20 non-Hodgkin's lympho mas (NHL). The mean nuclear area (NA), mean AgNOR area/nucleus (AA) an d NOR percentage nuclear area (NPNA) were determined using image analy sis. The AgNOR count, NA and AA were significantly higher in touch imp rints than tissue sections within tumors of the same histologic grade. However, no significant difference was observed for NPNA between impr ints and sections within tumors of the same grade. Both the mean AgNOR number and the NPNA were significantly higher in aggressive NHL (n = 10) than indolent NHL (n = 10), regardless of sampling method. It is s uggested that the NPNA is invariant to the sampling technique; NPNA va lues from touch imprints and tissue sections can be compared directly. Furthermore, because NPNA is calculated independent of AgNOR number, it is less subjective than manual counting.