Cytonuclear morphometry in the assessment of dysplasia in colorectal adenomatous polyps. A pilot study.

In order to objectify the degree of dysplasia, results of nuclear and cellular morphometry were compared with assessed grades of dysplasia in 32 colorectal adenomatous polyps. Of these adenomas 8 showed mild, 17 moderate and 7 severe dysplasia (according to blind duplicate assessments by two pathologists). Using a microscope video-overlay interactive digitizing measurement system, 100 nuclei were measured in each specimen according to a strict measurement protocol. In a stepwise discriminant analysis the best discriminating features appeared to be mean stratification index, N/C ratio, mean contour ratio and mean form AR. Overall with these features 65.6% correct jackknifed classification of the 32 cases could be achieved. On the other hand, a clear three-group distinction could not be obtained, even with the best set of discriminating features. Similarly to gastric dysplasia, the morphometric features might be used to design a two-grade (low, high) rather than a three-grade system to assess the degree of dysplasia. These findings make clear that objectifying the degree of dysplasia in adenomatous polyps is possible by means of interactive morphometric analysis.