Ph. Bartels et al., CHROMATIN TEXTURE SIGNATURES IN NUCLEI FROM PROSTATE LESIONS, Analytical and quantitative cytology and histology, 20(5), 1998, pp. 407-416
OBJECTIVE: To characterize nuclei from prostatic lesions in a highly s
pecific manner by developing a nuclear chromatin texture signature and
to characterize lesions by means of their composition of nuclei with
diverse degrees of deviation from normal. STUDY DESIGN: High-resolutio
n digitized imagery of nuclei from normal prostates, from prostatic ne
oplastic lesions of low and high grade and from histologically normal
appearing regions of prostates with low and high grade prostatic intra
epithelial neoplasia (PIN) lesions were recorded. A set of 65 features
descriptive of the spatial and statistical distribution of nuclear ch
romatin was computed for each nucleus. These features were arranged an
d processed to form a distinctive signature. A distance metric from ''
normal'' was defined and computed for each nucleus. RESULTS: Profiles
of feature values can, after suitable scaling, be presented as distinc
tive feature value signatures. For many practical applications, profil
es based on It standardized distance from normal nuclei may be more us
eful. Such profiles allow the derivation of a progression curve, showi
ng increasing distances for diagnostic groups with increasing lesion p
rogression tip to high grade PIN lesions. Within each diagnostic group
different cases show distinctive distributions of nuclei with differi
ng degrees of deviation from normal, allowing the derivation of a lesi
on signature. CONCLUSION: Nuclear chromatin texture signatures may be
of value for the characterization of both nuclei and lesions. They are
based on a more comprehensive use of information offered by the nucle
ar chromatin pattern than that included in classification methods. Whi
le these signatures offer a more specific characterization of a clinic
al sample, they also are subject to move variability within a diagnost
ic category. This may not be due to randomness but may reflect some ac
tual differences between lesions.