Evaluation of the malignant grade of thymoma by morphometric analysis

To determine the histologic grade of malignancy of thymoma, the nuclear areas of epithelial cells of 42 thymomas, 14 thymic hyperplasias, and ten normal thymuses were measured by morphometry and the results were compared with the extent of disease, association with myasthenia gravis (MG), and histol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cancer 1988-03, Vol.61 (5), p.982-988
Main Authors: Nomori, Hiroaki, Horinouchi, Hirohisa, Kaseda, Shizuka, Ishihara, Tsuneo, Torikata, Chikao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Biological and medical sciences
Epithelium - pathology
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Myasthenia Gravis - pathology
Neoplasm Staging
Pneumology
Thymoma - pathology
Thymus Gland - pathology
Thymus Hyperplasia - pathology
Thymus Neoplasms - pathology
Tumors of the respiratory system and mediastinum
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Summary:To determine the histologic grade of malignancy of thymoma, the nuclear areas of epithelial cells of 42 thymomas, 14 thymic hyperplasias, and ten normal thymuses were measured by morphometry and the results were compared with the extent of disease, association with myasthenia gravis (MG), and histologic subtypes of the thymomas. The nuclei of epithelial cells of thymomas were significantly larger than those of both of thymic hyperplasias and normal thymuses (P < 0.01). The nuclei of epithelial cells of invasive thymomas were significantly larger than those of noninvasive ones (P < 0.001). In the noninvasive group, the nuclei of epithelial cells of thymomas associated with MG were significantly larger than those without MG (P < 0.02), and were similar to those of invasive thymomas. These results confirm that invasive thymomas are morphometrically malignant tumors, and suggest that noninvasive thymomas associated with MG might have malignant potential.
ISSN:0008-543X
1097-0142
DOI:10.1002/1097-0142(19880301)61:5<982::AID-CNCR2820610521>3.0.CO;2-1