MORPHOMETRIC, DNA AND PCNA IN THIN MALIGNANT MELANOMAS

Morphometric assessment of nuclear area, shape and density, nucleolar area, analysis of DNA content and expression of proliferating cell nuc lear antigen (PCNA) was performed in a case control study of 72 malign ant melanomas, thickness less-than-or-equal-to 0.8 mm and Clark level II-III. Twenty-four thin metastasizing melanomas (TMM) were individual ly compared to two thin non-metastasizing melanomas (TNM) after indivi dual matching for site of primary tumor, tumor thickness, level of inv asion, tumor regression and duration of follow-up. Conditional logisti c regression analysis with maximum likelihood estimates showed signifi cant differences between TMM and TNM with regard to the nuclear correl ation coefficient (p = 0.005), standard deviation of nuclear shape NCI (p = 0.017), and nuclear density (p = 0.030), indicating that thin me lanomas with pleomorphic and possibly densely packed nuclei are associ ated with recurrence. No significant differences were found regarding nuclear or nucleolar area, mean nuclear shape NCI, nuclear DNA content or expression of PCNA.