Quantitative study of AgNOR in differential diagnosis between non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and reactive hyperplasia

The argyrophilic staining technique was used in differential diagnosis between non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and reactive hyperplasia (RH) of lymphatic tissues in 30 cases of RH and 71 cases of NHL which were classified as low (11 cases), moderate (49 cases) and high malignant (11 cases) groups. The number and the area of Ag nucleolar organizer region (AgNORs) in 100 cells of each case were examined by both IBAS-200 cytoimage analyser and microscope. The results showed that there was significant difference in the number, but not in area, of AgNOR granules between RH and low malignant group of NHL (P < 0.001). In NHL, the significant differences in the number and area of AgNORs were found between each groups (P < 0.05 or P < 0.001). It was also observed that in NHL, the number of AgNOR was negatively correlated with the area of the granules, and the shapes and distribution patterns of AgNOR were significantly different between each groups. Our results suggest that the quantitative study of AgNOR combining with the histological characteristics is very helpful in the differential diagnosis of RH and NHL and in the classification of NHL.