Mt. Hernandezgarcia et al., BONE-MARROW FIBROSIS - HISTOMORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS AND INTEROBSERVER REPRODUCIBILITY OF A SIMPLE OPTICAL METHOD OF ASSESSING ITS INTENSITY, Clinical and laboratory haematology, 15(2), 1993, pp. 129-135
A histomorphometric analysis of the length of reticulin fibres per are
a of haemopoietic bone marrow was performed on 59 trephine iliac crest
biopsies. The values obtained were found to correlate with the degree
of fibrosis as determined by a simple optical method based on the deg
ree of microscopic magnification required for recognition of the prese
nce of reticulin fibres. The mean length of fibre (mum/10000 mum2) for
the three degrees of fibrosis defined by the optical method were: 241
.8 +/- 16.6 for grade I, 713 +/- 8 5.6 for grade II, and 1827.9 +/- 23
0.4 for grade III (P < 0.001). In a series of 67 biopsies, the overall
interobserver agreement of the optical method was found to be good (S
pearman's r = 0.99; P < 0.001) and there was good individual agreement
for each of the three degrees of fibrosis (improved kappa test). Ther
e was a small amount of overlap between the extreme values of adjacent
optical degrees. These results suggest that the optical method descri
bed here can be recommended as a practical technique for the routine e
valuation of myelofibrosis.