J Pathol Transl Med.  2016 Sep;50(5):355-360. 10.4132/jptm.2016.05.19.

Difference of the Nuclear Green Light Intensity between Papillary Carcinoma Cells Showing Clear Nuclei and Non-neoplastic Follicular Epithelia in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

• Lee H
• Baek TH
• Park M
• Lee SY
• Son HJ
• Kang DW
• Kim JH
• Kim SY

• KMID: 2353597
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4132/jptm.2016.05.19

Abstract

BACKGROUND
There is subjective disagreement regarding nuclear clearing in papillary thyroid carcinoma. In this study, using digital instruments, we were able to quantify many ambiguous pathologic features and use numeric data to express our findings.
METHODS
We examined 30 papillary thyroid carcinomas. For each case, we selected representative cancer cells showing clear nuclei and surrounding non-neoplastic follicular epithelial cells and evaluated objective values of green light intensity (GLI) for quantitative analysis of nuclear clearing in papillary thyroid carcinoma.
RESULTS
From 16,274 GLI values from 600 cancer cell nuclei and 13,752 GLI values from 596 non-neoplastic follicular epithelial nuclei, we found a high correlation of 94.9% between GLI and clear nuclei. GLI between the cancer group showing clear nuclei and non-neoplastic follicular epithelia was statistically significant. The overall average level of GLI in the cancer group was over two times higher than the non-neoplastic group despite a wide range of GLI. On a polygonal line graph, there was a fluctuating unique difference between both the cancer and non-neoplastic groups in each patient, which was comparable to the microscopic findings.
CONCLUSIONS
Nuclear GLI could be a useful factor for discriminating between carcinoma cells showing clear nuclei and non-neoplastic follicular epithelia in papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Keyword

Image processing, computer-assisted; Light intensity; Cell nucleus; Thyroid cancer, papillary

MeSH Terms

Carcinoma, Papillary*
Cell Nucleus
Epithelial Cells
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Thyroid Gland*
Thyroid Neoplasms*

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1. Plot box graph of green light intensity (GLI) of cancer cells and non-neoplastic cells in 30 papillary thyroid carcinoma patients. Error bar, 5th and 95th percentiles; line, central 50th percentile; triangle for cancer, circle for non-neoplastic group, mean GLI.

• 

  Fig. 2. High correlation of green light intensity with nuclear clearing in receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC).

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  Fig. 3. Comparison of green light intensity (GLI) between papillary thyroid carcinoma showing clear nuclei and surrounding non-neoplastic follicular epithelial cells.

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  Fig. 4. Fluctuating difference of green light intensity (GLI) in both cancer and non-neoplastic groups between each patient on polygonal line graph (red, non-neoplastic cells; blue, cancer).

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  Fig. 5. (A) Comparison of green light intensity (GLI) of cancer cells and non-neoplastic cells in case 25, which shows a large difference (left, cancer; right, non-neoplastic cells). (B) Comparison of GLI of cancer cells and non-neoplastic cells in case 26, where there is no significant difference (left, cancer; right, non-neoplastic cells). Note the similarity in red, green, and blue light intensities of non-neoplastic follicular epithelial cells in panel A and B.

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