A004
3D NUCLEAR TEXTURE - QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND DIAGNOSTIC SIGNIFICANCE
Beil M
Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital, Ulm, Germany
Several studies have emphasized the regulatory function of nuclear structure
for the transcriptional activity of genes. The spatial distribution pattern
of nuclear DNA (nuclear chromatin texture) reflects these processes and,
therefore, offers important information for diagnostic purposes. In recent
years, the advent of confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM) and fast
deconvolution techniques provided the opportunity to obtain three-dimensional
(3D) high-resolution images of cell nuclei. Using computerized image analysis
methods, measurements of 3D microscopic structures can be performed in an
objective and fast way. The quantitative analysis of 3D nuclear textures
requires the definition of a suitable model for image understanding. We have
investigated the performance of various statistical and structural approaches
to 3D texture analysis. The validity of methods for nuclear texture analysis
was assessed in studies involving premalignant and malignant prostate lesions.
Structural methods proved to be superior to statistical methods for the
evaluation of different stages of cellular differentiation. Moreover, a
small set of structural texture features allowed the nuclear grading of
prostate lesions with a high precision. These results indicate the
significance of nuclear texture analysis in diagnostic pathology.