A model for quantitative follow-up studies of cervical lesions

A model for follow-up studies of cervical lesions is described in which the specimen were taken in a noninvasive way using Cytobrushes and in which automatic measurement of the abnormal nuclei in the sampled epithelial fragments was possible because 2-microns thin Feulgen-stained plastic sections were prepared. The planimetric parameters AREA, PERIMETER, FORM PE, and FORM ELL, and the densitometric parameters optical density (OD) and integrated optical density (IOD) were assessed. The mean total volume and the mean total DNA were calculated using stereological methods. The moderate dysplasias differed from the carcinoma in situs for all the densitometric parameters except for OD, and from the invasive carcinomas for IOD and 5cER. In the moderate-dysplasia group, there were three types of DNA histograms: a highly abnormal type resembling the histograms of the carcinoma group, a normal type, and an intermediate type. Changes in DNA histograms can be established during follow-up studies of dysplasias without having disturbed the lesion due to the efficient and elegant noninvasive sampling method that was not used in earlier quantitative studies.