OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cytopathic effect of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in adolescents. METHODS: Cervical biopsies from 100 patients, 50 from adolescents age 14 to 20 and 50 from mature women age 35 to 64, all diagnosed with HPV-related lesions (condylomas), were studied histologically and morphometrically. Fifty were associated with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions and 50 with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions. RESULTS: Epithelial cells with large hyperchromatic, often bizarre-shaped, nuclei, staining positive for HPV-16, were identified in most samples from adolescents. These nuclei were, on average, almost twice as large as those seen in biopsies from older women (P = 0.003), and they mostly occupied the lower half of the epithelium (P = 0.0008). These large cells were further analyzed for texture by a novel image-analysis approach, the autocorrelation factor beta, that revealed a markedly different, smoother nuclear structure, suggestive of a large viral load, different from the irregular chromatin pattern seen in dysplastic nuclei. CONCLUSIONS: These peculiar nuclei were ubiquitous in the adolescent cervical biopsies and probably represent a primary abundant productive viral infection. They should not necessarily be interpreted as dysplastic.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cytopathic effect of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in adolescents. METHODS: Cervical biopsies from 100 patients, 50 from adolescents age 14 to 20 and 50 from mature women age 35 to 64, all diagnosed with HPV-related lesions (condylomas), were studied histologically and morphometrically. Fifty were associated with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions and 50 with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions. RESULTS: Epithelial cells with large hyperchromatic, often bizarre-shaped, nuclei, staining positive for HPV-16, were identified in most samples from adolescents. These nuclei were, on average, almost twice as large as those seen in biopsies from older women (P = 0.003), and they mostly occupied the lower half of the epithelium (P = 0.0008). These large cells were further analyzed for texture by a novel image-analysis approach, the autocorrelation factor beta, that revealed a markedly different, smoother nuclear structure, suggestive of a large viral load, different from the irregular chromatin pattern seen in dysplastic nuclei. CONCLUSIONS: These peculiar nuclei were ubiquitous in the adolescent cervical biopsies and probably represent a primary abundant productive viral infection. They should not necessarily be interpreted as dysplastic.
Authors: Karem R Domínguez Hernández; Alberto A Aguilar Lasserre; Rubén Posada Gómez; José A Palet Guzmán; Blanca E González Sánchez Journal: Comput Math Methods Med Date: 2013-04-18 Impact factor: 2.238