[Nuclear morphometry of cancer cells in stage III breast cancer with special reference to prognosis]

The nuclear area (NA) and nuclear form factor (NFF) (NFF = 4.pi.NA/P2. Na, nuclear area; P, perimeter) have been measured in fifteen stage III patients with an invasive ductal breast cancer, using an image analyzer (IBAS-2000, Zeiss). The NA has been revealed as being 41.8 +/- 8.82 micrograms2 (mean +/- S.D.) in five-year survivors (n = 8), and 59.4 +/- 12.9 micrograms2 in non-survivors (n = 7). The NFF was found to be 0.74 +/- 0.038 in those who survived, and 0.69 +/- 0.028 in non-survivors. The NA was significantly lager (p less than 0.01) and the NFF significantly lower (p less than 0.05) in the non-survivors than in the survivors. NA and NFF are considered to be helpful in determining the prognosis of breast cancer patients in stage III.