Relationship between DNA flow cytometric data, nuclear morphometric variables and volume-corrected mitotic index in transitional cell bladder tumors.

The relationship between the mean nuclear area, standard deviation of the nuclear area, the mean area of the 10 largest nuclei in a section (NA10), volume-corrected mitotic index (M/V index), DNA index (DI) and S-phase fraction (SPF) were assessed in a panel of 222 transitional cell bladder tumors. The relations between the morphometric variables and DI (p less than 0.0001), and between the morphometric variables and SPF (p less than 0.0001) were highly significant. Pearson's correlation coefficients between NA10 and DI (r = 0.413) and between SPF and the M/V index (r = 0.536) were also highly significant (p less than 0.0001). The SPF could be estimated reliably by morphometric methods, whereas the estimation of DI is not perfect. The combination of morphometric variables allowed a more reliable estimation of flow cytometric parameters. The results suggest that DI and SPF can be semiquantitatively estimated in routine histopathological sections by simple morphometric methods.