Measuring glomerular diameters in tissue sections.

In some kidney diseases it is important to know the diameters of the glomeruli. If only tissue sections are available, glomeruli are cut at different levels, and direct estimation of the real diameter is impossible. A variant of Hening's method is presented which allows calculation of the real glomerular diameters, and frequency distribution of the diameters in the glomerular population. The accuracy and reliability of the method are demonstrated.