Fractal Analysis and the Diagnostic Usefulness of Silver Staining Nucleolar Organizer Regions in Prostate Adenocarcinoma

Pathological diagnosis of prostate adenocarcinoma often requires complementary methods. On prostate biopsy tissue from 39 patients including benign nodular hyperplasia (BNH), atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH), and adenocarcinomas, we have performed combined histochemical-immunohistochemical sta...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alex Stepan, Cristiana Simionescu, Daniel Pirici, Raluca Ciurea, Claudiu Margaritescu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2015-01-01
Series:Analytical Cellular Pathology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/250265
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849473324291194880
author Alex Stepan
Cristiana Simionescu
Daniel Pirici
Raluca Ciurea
Claudiu Margaritescu
author_facet Alex Stepan
Cristiana Simionescu
Daniel Pirici
Raluca Ciurea
Claudiu Margaritescu
author_sort Alex Stepan
collection DOAJ
description Pathological diagnosis of prostate adenocarcinoma often requires complementary methods. On prostate biopsy tissue from 39 patients including benign nodular hyperplasia (BNH), atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH), and adenocarcinomas, we have performed combined histochemical-immunohistochemical stainings for argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) and glandular basal cells. After ascertaining the pathology, we have analyzed the number, roundness, area, and fractal dimension of individual AgNORs or of their skeleton-filtered maps. We have optimized here for the first time a combination of AgNOR morphological denominators that would reflect best the differences between these pathologies. The analysis of AgNORs’ roundness, averaged from large composite images, revealed clear-cut lower values in adenocarcinomas compared to benign and atypical lesions but with no differences between different Gleason scores. Fractal dimension (FD) of AgNOR silhouettes not only revealed significant lower values for global cancer images compared to AAH and BNH images, but was also able to differentiate between Gleason pattern 2 and Gleason patterns 3–5 adenocarcinomas. Plotting the frequency distribution of the FDs for different pathologies showed clear differences between all Gleason patterns and BNH. Together with existing morphological classifiers, AgNOR analysis might contribute to a faster and more reliable machine-assisted screening of prostatic adenocarcinoma, as an essential aid for pathologists.
format Article
id doaj-art-c7f5aaeb440440d89dccfc50173f537f
institution Kabale University
issn 2210-7177
2210-7185
language English
publishDate 2015-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Analytical Cellular Pathology
spelling doaj-art-c7f5aaeb440440d89dccfc50173f537f2025-08-20T03:24:11ZengWileyAnalytical Cellular Pathology2210-71772210-71852015-01-01201510.1155/2015/250265250265Fractal Analysis and the Diagnostic Usefulness of Silver Staining Nucleolar Organizer Regions in Prostate AdenocarcinomaAlex Stepan0Cristiana Simionescu1Daniel Pirici2Raluca Ciurea3Claudiu Margaritescu4Department of Pathology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Petru Rares Street 2, Dolj, 200349 Craiova, RomaniaDepartment of Pathology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Petru Rares Street 2, Dolj, 200349 Craiova, RomaniaDepartment of Pathology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Petru Rares Street 2, Dolj, 200349 Craiova, RomaniaDepartment of Pathology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Petru Rares Street 2, Dolj, 200349 Craiova, RomaniaDepartment of Pathology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Petru Rares Street 2, Dolj, 200349 Craiova, RomaniaPathological diagnosis of prostate adenocarcinoma often requires complementary methods. On prostate biopsy tissue from 39 patients including benign nodular hyperplasia (BNH), atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH), and adenocarcinomas, we have performed combined histochemical-immunohistochemical stainings for argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) and glandular basal cells. After ascertaining the pathology, we have analyzed the number, roundness, area, and fractal dimension of individual AgNORs or of their skeleton-filtered maps. We have optimized here for the first time a combination of AgNOR morphological denominators that would reflect best the differences between these pathologies. The analysis of AgNORs’ roundness, averaged from large composite images, revealed clear-cut lower values in adenocarcinomas compared to benign and atypical lesions but with no differences between different Gleason scores. Fractal dimension (FD) of AgNOR silhouettes not only revealed significant lower values for global cancer images compared to AAH and BNH images, but was also able to differentiate between Gleason pattern 2 and Gleason patterns 3–5 adenocarcinomas. Plotting the frequency distribution of the FDs for different pathologies showed clear differences between all Gleason patterns and BNH. Together with existing morphological classifiers, AgNOR analysis might contribute to a faster and more reliable machine-assisted screening of prostatic adenocarcinoma, as an essential aid for pathologists.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/250265
spellingShingle Alex Stepan
Cristiana Simionescu
Daniel Pirici
Raluca Ciurea
Claudiu Margaritescu
Fractal Analysis and the Diagnostic Usefulness of Silver Staining Nucleolar Organizer Regions in Prostate Adenocarcinoma
Analytical Cellular Pathology
title Fractal Analysis and the Diagnostic Usefulness of Silver Staining Nucleolar Organizer Regions in Prostate Adenocarcinoma
title_full Fractal Analysis and the Diagnostic Usefulness of Silver Staining Nucleolar Organizer Regions in Prostate Adenocarcinoma
title_fullStr Fractal Analysis and the Diagnostic Usefulness of Silver Staining Nucleolar Organizer Regions in Prostate Adenocarcinoma
title_full_unstemmed Fractal Analysis and the Diagnostic Usefulness of Silver Staining Nucleolar Organizer Regions in Prostate Adenocarcinoma
title_short Fractal Analysis and the Diagnostic Usefulness of Silver Staining Nucleolar Organizer Regions in Prostate Adenocarcinoma
title_sort fractal analysis and the diagnostic usefulness of silver staining nucleolar organizer regions in prostate adenocarcinoma
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/250265
work_keys_str_mv AT alexstepan fractalanalysisandthediagnosticusefulnessofsilverstainingnucleolarorganizerregionsinprostateadenocarcinoma
AT cristianasimionescu fractalanalysisandthediagnosticusefulnessofsilverstainingnucleolarorganizerregionsinprostateadenocarcinoma
AT danielpirici fractalanalysisandthediagnosticusefulnessofsilverstainingnucleolarorganizerregionsinprostateadenocarcinoma
AT ralucaciurea fractalanalysisandthediagnosticusefulnessofsilverstainingnucleolarorganizerregionsinprostateadenocarcinoma
AT claudiumargaritescu fractalanalysisandthediagnosticusefulnessofsilverstainingnucleolarorganizerregionsinprostateadenocarcinoma