A morphometric approach to the grading of chondroid tumours on fine-needle smears

A morphometric study was performed on 600 nuclei from 6 benign chondroid tumours (BCL) (3 enchondromas and 3 exostoses), 600 nuclei from 6 well-differentiated chondrosarcomas (WDC) and 200 nuclei from moderately-differentiated chondrosarcomas (MDC) obtained by fine needle aspiration biopsy. The parameters considered were nuclear area, perimeter and maximum diameter. Moving across the three groups of lesions the nuclei appeared progressively larger. A statistical analysis was performed on the three groups. Significant differences between the means of all the parameters considered were observed. The authors suggest that morphometric analysis may be a possible step in the cytologic diagnosis and grading of chondroid tumours.