Diagnosis of cervical dysplasia using DNA image cytometry

Dysplastic epithelia represent potentially precancerous conditions in which the risk of progression to cancer is unknown in the individual case. The p ositive predictive Value of mild and moderate dysplasias of the uterine cer vix is only about 13%. Using DNA image cytometry on restained, conventional Papsmears the cytometric equivalent of chromosomal aneuploidy can be detec ted as marker for neoplastic transformation of cells. The identification of DNA aneuploidy in dysplastic squamous epithelia can increase the predictiv e Value for malignant transformation to over 90%. DNA aneuploidy qualifies squamous intraepithelial lesions as high grade (H-SIL) which have to be tre ated whereas lack of DNA aneuploidy characterizes low grade squamous intrae pithelial lesions (L-SIL) which have only to be controlled. The methodology is meanwhile internationally standardized concerning performance and diagn ostic interpretation.