[The differential diagnosis of follicular adenomas and carcinomas in fine needle biopsies of the thyroid gland by means of automatic image analysis (author's transl)].

Problems in discriminating follicular adenomas from carcinomas in fine needle biopsy material of the thyroid gland by means of conventional microscopy led us to perform morphometric analyses. Applying a microscopic image analysis system for automatically recording of smears of the thyroid gland that were obtained from fine needle biopsies, it seemed possible to analyse "follicular neoplasias". However, in order to get statistical assurance, a larger number of samples remains to be investigated. The usefulness of the method is to be confirmed by its routine application.