Clinical significance of stereological estimation of mean nuclear volume in human bladder carcinoma--further analysis of nuclear morphometric variables]

Recently, nuclear morphometry methods have been used to quantitatively analyze the malignant potential of cancer cells. We have previously shown that the malignant potential of human bladder carcinoma can be analyzed quantitatively through mean nuclear volume measurements. In the present study, we examined other measurements obtained from nuclear morphometry and evaluated their usefulness as indicators of the outcome of bladder carcinoma. Our subject group consisted of 161 patients with untreated bladder carcinoma. Four nuclear morphometric values were measured on each subject: the mean nuclear volume (MNV), the mean nuclear area (MNA), the nuclear roundness factor (NRF) and the variation of nuclear area (VNA). MNV, MNA and VNA values increased as the tumors progressed to a more advanced stage and grade of malignancy. Patients were then divided into two subgroups based on each morphometric value: small MNV (< 186.9 microns3) and large MNV (> or = 186.9 microns3); small MNA (< 33.6 microns2) and large MNA (> or = 33.6 microns2); low NRF (< 81.1) and high NRF (> or = 81.1); and low VNA (< 33.0) and high VNA (> or = 33.0). Survival rates were significantly higher among patients with a small MNV, a small MNA and a low NRF (5-year survival rate; 93.0, 84.9 and 84.6%), compared to patients exhibiting high values (5-year survival rate; 59.7, 61.3 and 61.9%). For patients with grade 2 tumors, those with a small MNV had a high survival rate (5-year survival rate; 95.2%), similar to that of patients with grade 1 tumors (5-year survival rate; 95.2%)(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)