QUANTITATIVE GRADING OF TISSUE AND NUCLEI IN PROSTATE-CANCER FOR PROGNOSIS PREDICTION

Prostate cancer is evidenced by profound histological, cellular, and n uclear changes in the organization of the prostate. Histological asses sment of prostate tissue taken from surgically removed turners has tra ditionally relied on visual pathological interpretation The principal classification scheme used in visual pathology of the prostate, Gleaso n grading, has proven successful in characterizing the state of diseas e but has had limited prognostic value. We are conducting studies that aim to provide quantitative measures of disease state to improve prog nosis prediction. Our findings show that the orientational distributio n of tumor cells, often assumed to be isotropic, can play a significan t role in statistical studies of intranuclear DNA organization. Inclus ion of anatomical factors in the selection of reference frames for mea surements of intranuclear DNA can improve the statistical power of cyt ometric studies and may provide a unifying framework for relating hist ological, morphometric, and intranuclear descriptions of prostate tumo rs.