CONFOCAL OPTICAL SECTIONING AND 3-DIMENSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF CARCINOMA FRAGMENTS IN PAP SMEARS USING SOPHISTICATED IMAGE DATA-PROCESSING

Carcinoma fragments found in Pap smears contain important diagnostic i nformation not available to the light microscopist because of their th ickness and consequent blurring. Optical sectioning by the confocal mi croscope allows us to reclaim the mitotic figures, glandular architect ure, and abnormal chromatin patterns in the restained original smears. The high spatial resolution of the confocal microscope can be further exploited by processing the digital images with.the sophisticated App lication Visualization System (AVS) on a CONVEX computer. Serial secti ons in which the fluorescent signals are color coded by this software package and three-dimensional reconstructions of the nuclei and mitoti c figures expand our knowledge of these malignant epithelial fragments . (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.