Morphometric analysis of pancreatic carcinoma by computer-assisted image analysis.

This report describes the results of applying the interactive image analysis system for the measurement of some cytological parameters corresponding to features of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. The present experiments were carried out by means of the digital cell image analysis of haematoxilyn and eosin stained archival standard glass slides of cancer bearing and healthy patients. Four different parameters describing the morphology of nuclei and nucleoli were selected to quantitate the differences between control and malignant tissues: area, perimeter, elongation, and extension. The parameters that showed the greatest differences between cancerous and normal pancreas were: area and elongation in the case of nuclei as well as area and perimeter for nucleoli. However, the results of this study suggest that none of the four analysed parameters can be selected alone to discriminate neoplastic from normal cells, but could be used all together in diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.