Image analysis in the discrimination of verrucous carcinoma and squamous papilloma

Verrucous carcinoma is a differentiated variant of squamous cell carcinoma and may present diagnostic difficulties as it may be erroneously diagnosed as squamous papilloma. In this study, the sizes of the intermediate cells in these two conditions were measured by means of morphometric analysis. Biopsies from 28 patients with verrucous carcinoma, 25 patients with squamous papilloma, and ten squamous cell carcinomas were analysed. A significant difference was shown (P less than 0.001) by an uncorrelated t-test between verrucous carcinoma and squamous papilloma. The former had a mean cell area of 373 microns 2 and the latter 184 microns 2. Squamous cell carcinomas differed from the other two neoplasms by their large range of cell areas both within and between cases. Thus, image analysis can be of diagnostic help in cases where no firm initial histopathological diagnosis can be obtained. The diagnosis should be made on morphological grounds, but a mean cell area greater than 300 microns 2 supports a diagnosis of verrucous carcinoma whereas an area less than 250 microns 2 supports a diagnosis of squamous papilloma.