Early endocervical glandular neoplasia. II. Morphometric analysis of the cells.

A morphometric analysis was performed on the cells of early endocervical glandular neoplasia, including adenocarcinoma in situ and microinvasive adenocarcinoma, in cytologic preparations. The measurements were compared with those of cells from the normal endocervix and cells from other lesions that enter into the differential diagnosis. The morphometric profile developed for the cells of early glandular neoplasia proved to be useful, reliable and reproducible. Not only could the cells of normal endocervical samples be distinguished from those of early endocervical glandular neoplasia, but the measurements also seemed capable of making the visually difficult distinction between adenocarcinoma in situ and microinvasive adenocarcinoma. The latter point requires further confirmation since only a few cases of microinvasive adenocarcinoma were available for study.