Ploidy patterns in cervical dysplasia.

The ploidy patterns determined for groups of patients with cervical dysplasia (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia [CIN]) were subjected to statistical analysis. The patterns were based on the measurement of at least 100 Feulgen-stained nuclei from 30 patients with normal cervices, 10 cases of CIN I, 18 cases of CIN II and 33 cases of CIN III. The scale of the patterns was a log transformation of the ratio of the total extinction (optical density) of the nuclei to that of the 2N reference; this widens the intervals for higher ploidies, alleviating sampling requirements for intervals in which occurrences are rare and helping to maintain a reasonable sample size-to-dimensionality ratio. Pairwise discriminant analyses showed clear distinctions between the ploidy pattern for normal cases and those for CIN I, CIN II and CIN III. The distinctions between the different grades of CIN, based on these modest sample sizes, were less clearcut, largely due to pronounced patient-to-patient variability. Analysis of variance confirmed that the patient groups constitute statistically distinct entities. An aneuploid pattern did not seem to develop until CIN III lesions were involved. The diagnostic and prognostic significance of these preliminary findings require further study using larger data sets and correlations to patient survival.