OVARIAN DYSPLASIA - NUCLEAR TEXTURE ANALYSIS

Background. Ovarian dysplasia has been defined by histologic1,2 and mo rphometric studies2,4 focusing on architectural and nuclear profile ch anges. A new technique is used to enhance the accuracy of this diagnos is by a quantitative evaluation of the nuclear texture that represents the nuclear chromatin pattern on which conventional diagnoses of mali gnancy are usually made. Methods. Histologic sections from 35 ovaries classified as malignant (12), dysplastic (12), and normal (11) were ev aluated by tracing boundaries of nuclear profiles and measuring ''text ons'' (texture primitives) with a histogram analysis of three zones of gray level densities (called for simplification white, gray, and dark ). The average combined area was tabulated for specimens with the same diagnosis, and linear regression plots compared the texton area with total nuclear area. Results. The dimensions of textons originally hidd en inside the chromatin and revealed by histograms were found to be cl osely clustered in normal epithelium, and increasingly dissociated fro m the containing nucleus as the lesion progressed from dysplastic to m alignant. The statistical multivariate analysis including nine paramet ers correctly classified the three diagnostic categories as normal, dy splastic, and malignant. Conclusions. Computerized image analysis of n uclear texture adds accuracy to the recently elaborated morphometric m ethods to define ovarian dysplasia, a potential precursor of ovarian c arcinoma.