[Quantitative morphological criteria of the degree of malignancy of kidney cancer].

Eighty cases of renal carcinoma were studied by morphological and morphometrical methods. According to the current classification all the cases were divided into three groups: clear-cell, granular-cell, and anaplastic carcinoma. Clear-cell and granular-cell carcinomas may be of three degrees of malignancy: low, moderate, and high. In tumors of low degree of malignancy, the mitotic index, the rate of pathological mitotic figures, and the nucleus-cytoplasm ratio are higher than in tumors of high degree of malignancy. In the former, cytophotometry revealed increasing heterogeneity in DNA distribution. According to the results of the quantitative studies, tumors of moderate degree of malignancy can be divided into two groups: one with the parameters of low, the other of high degree of malignancy. The results of the study will be useful for improving the microscopic diagnosis of renal carcinoma.